SeaQuest DSV: Something In The Water
by Immortalkaos80
Summary: Lucas and Alex are back. Alex has stumbled onto a biological weapon engineered to destroy the entire human race save those few its creator deems worthy to survive. There's only one catch, there's no one alive who can survive it. Please read and review.
1. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

This is the first sequel to my story "The Ethics Of Intentions". If they both do well, I may continue with further stories in this sequence. So far, I have had good readership and I think you all would like to read more about the adventures of Alex Northman and Lucas Wolenczak.

This story is set at the end of season two, before the season finale "Splashdown" and after "Blindsided". Not to knock anyone who loved the third season, but for me that was when the series jumped the shark. So, I've chosen to pretend the third season never happened. The _seaQuest_ didn't go gallivanting off to some far away planet in this time line.

Please note that I am continuing with the season two crew and disregarding the cast from season three. Captain Hudson never led this _seaQuest_.


	2. Acknowledgements

**Acknowledgments**

I'd like to thank my editor but I don't have one at the moment. So, this is the holding spot if I get one.

Heather, thank you for putting up with endless night of brain storming, nonsense conversations and pleas for opinions and ideas. Debbie, it took me a while but I got it done! Here it is! Have fun reading it!

I'd also like to thank my mom for taking the time to read my diatribe and give me her thoughts on it. Yes, she liked _seaQuest DSV_ but she can't understand my obsession with fan fiction. She still read it - again. Thank you.

I'd like to thank Steven Spielberg, Rockne S. O'Bannon, and the entire cast and crew of _seaQuest DSV_ for giving us this world to begin with it. Thanks for letting me drive your boat, even if you don't know I hijacked it for a little while...again!

Last but not least, I'd like to thank Jonathan Brandis for playing a character I love so much. For giving him a voice that I can say with certainty, no one else could have. No, you weren't Lucas Wolenczak but you gave him his heart and soul.


	3. Prologue

**Prologue**

_Gen-Med Industries_

_New Cape Quest, Florida_

_March 2024_

The day was hot and humid. The sky was crystal blue and the sounds were those in keeping with a busy metropolis like New Cape Quest. Somewhere frogs were calling softly and a rare breeze disturbed the stillness. In other words, it was a typical day in what, to most, equaled a subtropical paradise.

Not to Bill Thomas and George White. For them it was just another day, doing the same job, for the same meager pay. Both of them were asleep in the front seat of their delivery car. The car had once been a pristine example of the standards the company they worked for demanded. Now it was a testament to how many fast food containers it could hold. Some of which had half their contents still inside.

Neither of them could be considered exemplary employees, they did enough to get by and nothing more. This was just a job after all. Who cared what you did as long as you got paid at the end of the week? No one seemed to care as long as their deliveries were made on time anyway.

Both were startled from their nap by a sharp rap on the glass of the driver's side window. Bill groaned in annoyance and hit the button to let the window down. The aquiline face peering back through it belonged to their shift manager and he looked none too pleased.

"This isn't preschool boys, you don't get afternoon naps. Rise and shine, your shipments are ready for delivery."

George slid his dirty, booted feet off the dash and rolled his eyes at their boss. The shift manager gave him a look of disdain before jerking the driver side door open to get them both moving. Neither of them looked like they were inclined to do so.

"I said your shipments are ready for delivery. Now get your sorry carcasses out of the car and get going. This is the second time this week I've caught you sleeping on the job. Just give me an excuse and I'll find a reason to fire you both," the shift manager growled with unveiled anger. These two were about as useful as a hole in a bucket.

"Go ahead. Who would want this lame job anyway?" George yawned.

"You're pushing it George. Do it or you can clock out now. Permanently," The shift manager spat.

"Yeah, yeah we've heard it all before." Bill droned, resolutely refusing to move. The shift manager looked from one to the other shaking his head. He turned and stalked off muttering to himself.

"They don't pay me enough for this."

After Bill and George had leisured around for a while longer George finally decided it might actually be a good idea to do the job they were being paid to do. Bill did not seem to think he needed to join him.

"Are you coming or what?" George asked as he got out of the car. Bill uttered a phlegmy chuckle. "No. I think you got it. I'm the senior employee so you get to do the dirty work."

George glared at him through the still open door. "That's not fair!" he protested. Bill made himself more comfortable, resettling his large, pudgy, bulk in his seat and seemed to be unperturbed by George's indignation.

"Life's not fair buddy boy." Bill retorted lacing his fingers behind his head and shutting his eyes. George huffed about it a moment before deciding there was no point. "Whatever." he hissed as he started loading the car with packages.

George could not be bothered to actually load the boxes with any kind of care. He tossed them in the back seat helter-skelter. As long as they got to their destination in one piece, no one would know the difference as far as he was concerned. Cleaning the car out from time to time might have been a novel idea to him, but he found out in short order there actually was a reason to do it, like it or not. One of the boxes knocked over a week old soda and sent its contents spilling over the box next to it.

He uttered several choice curses while he tried to mop up the mess the fast food clutter had caused. He added another string of colorful words to his repertoire when he realized the soda had nearly obliterated the address label on the box it spilled on. All that could still be made out were the words "stem cells".

"Man what is your problem?" Bill asked opening one blood shot eye to peer at his coworker.

"Damn soda screwed up the label on this one box. All it says now is stem cells," George explained tossing the last couple of packages in the back and climbing into the passenger seat of the car. If he hadn't been reed thin he wouldn't have fit in the passenger seat. Bill took up most of the available space. Bill seemed to dismiss the whole incident with an idle shrug.

"Don't worry about it. Only one place on our route ever orders that. That BioSynTech place."

George looked skeptical. "What if somebody else ordered them this time? BioSynTech, that's that place with the hot blonde working there ain't it?"

"Ain't nobody ever ordered them but that place. We've been delivering those to the same place for six months. Yeah there's a blonde that works there, but she ain't my type. Now that red head she works with. She's a cute one." Bill replied as he put the car in gear and made his way out of the company security gates.

"What's wrong with the blonde? You got something against them?" George queried, his concern over the maimed package came second best to discussing women.

"Nah. I ain't got nothing against blondes. Just heard on the news a while back that one's taken. Datin' some brainy kid on that big UEO submarine everybody is so impressed with. All involved in some criminal trial or something. Some guy playing with people's brains or something. Besides girls like that get big heads, all entitled and such. I'll take me that red head any day." Bill explained as they pulled onto the main road. George just shrugged; he figured that meant he would have better odds with the blonde. Boyfriends could be dumped after all.


	4. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Research Assistant Samantha Collins was sitting at her lab station both feet propped on the table while leaning as far back in her chair as she could without toppling it over, long red hair falling behind it in a braid, swinging like a streamer. With the amount of clutter the table struggled to confine it was a miracle she could find a place to prop her feet at all. Her entire workspace was what she liked to call controlled chaos, a mish-mash of disorder that only she could decipher. It drove her boss mildly insane. She popped another cheese curl in her mouth and kept time with the radio by bobbing her head to the beat. The latest rock band was busy belting out their latest single at a just barely understandable volume.

She had been working for BioSynTech for the last six months. The fact was, except for her boss, she was the only one working for the company. Her boss could easily have afforded a lab quadruple the size of the one they were working in with just as large an increase in staff, but instead she had chosen a small industrial building housing at least fifteen other small companies, situated in one of the busiest districts of New Cape Quest. The whole lab was no bigger than most doctors' offices but at least the view out of the tenth story windows was nice enough. Skyline and ocean for as far as the eye could see.

On most days, the water reflected a translucent cerulean blue that the skyscrapers and complexes along the coastline mirrored off their glass windows. Gulls called and drifted lazily on the thermals looking for discarded food or some tourist unlucky enough to be holding a French fry at an opportune moment. To the west, the first edges of the Acreage could be seen. An area that boasted flat pastures housing the richest members of society's polo horses and strangely a warehouse district. The outside view was an odd contrast to the confines of the tiny lab she worked in.

It didn't even look like any lab she had ever seen. Nowhere was the white and steel of a standard laboratory. Instead, everything was brushed chrome and beige. Not a radical difference mind you but still enough that it had struck her as odd. It was a decor choice her boss had refused to explain when she had asked off hand one day. To anyone else who knew her boss the reason for the change in color theme would have been obvious. The white and steel of a normal research lab reminded her far too much of a place she would rather forget. Odd paint schemes or not, the job more than made up for it.

The job was perfect. She got a boss who was great to work with and fun too. Despite the five-year age gap between them, with her boss being the younger, she had jumped at the chance when she had it. Some of her peers had told her she had lost her mind agreeing to do her research internment under a former child prodigy. She saw it as a unique opportunity to expand her knowledge and learn things older, more traditional scientists might never try. It wasn't every day you got to help create a synthetic heart after all.

Sam was busy enjoying her hard-earned lunch break. Her boss however, was in her office attempting to eat the lunch Sam had gotten them both at a drive through fast food joint not two blocks away while arguing with someone on the vidlink. From the measured tone her boss was using she figured it was another reporter, someone who was paying their funding or a UEO representative. If it had been anyone else Alex Northman would have been giving them what for loud enough to be heard three floors in either direction. A measured tone meant she was still trying to be diplomatic about it.

Abruptly the conversation came to a halt; Alex shrilled in annoyance and stalked out of her office, slamming the door behind her. She flung herself into her own research station chair, plopped her mostly uneaten lunch on the table and looked frazzled.

"If it's not God or Lucas I am not answering that vidlink again today. I should have stayed dead!"

Sam cocked an eyebrow in her direction as she righted her chair attempting to look like the professional she was supposed to be. She didn't know why she bothered anymore. Alex was about as laid back a person one could work for. She could have come to work in jean shorts and sandals. Alex wouldn't have cared.

"That bad huh?" Sam asked around a bite of her turkey club. Alex just shot her a glance from beneath her fringe of blonde hair and huffed.

"Another reporter. You would think they would be interested in the trials because Dr. Ryan Sanborn killed over two dozen people. But no, they are more interested in who I'm dating and what I do in my free time! No wonder no one takes the news seriously anymore!" Alex grumbled.

Sam chuckled; her boss was prone to these rants whenever one of the news media called lately. A year and a half ago she had fallen victim to a mad man who thought the world's crime could be eliminated by using some of the world's top scientists and psychics to control the minds of the populous. His plan had nearly worked but the crew of the _seaQuest DSV _and Alex had managed to thwart him at the last minute. Though Dr. Sanborn had died during the incident there were more than enough members of his staff up on charges to keep the judicial system busy for a long while yet.

The media should have latched onto the story for the human rights issues it raised and the children who were slated to become unwitting and innocent victims of the whole scheme. Not to mention the numerous deaths and near world control Dr. Sanborn had tried to gain. Instead, the real news had become a secondary story to whatever glamorous spin they could put on the only survivor of Dr. Sanborn's experiments. The whole thing had devolved into a media spectacle.

The fact that the UEO had essentially agreed to fund her research lock, stock and barrel in order to keep her from telling the public exactly what their involvement in it had been didn't help her opinion of the whole debacle either. They were more or less paying her hush money, by way of research grants, not to reveal that they had known Dr. Sanborn was alive and well after his first round of experiments killed his entire research team and had done nothing about it. They had let him slip under the radar for ten years, turning a blind eye because the company he inherited from his grandfather owned a large portion of the land they leased for their facilities. To save money they hadn't wanted to risk pursuing him and displacing thousands of personnel in the process.

Alex had accepted the deal but she still felt like she had sold her soul to the devil. Lucas had no idea she had done it and she had no intention of telling him. She wasn't sure he would understand her reasons. She had learned to take opportunity when it presented itself from her mother and she did not intend to let this one slip through her fingers. One day it might prove to be very useful. Besides, she couldn't see what good revealing the UEO's part in the mess would do. All it would accomplish is to discredit them in the eyes of the public and threaten all the good they had done. _SeaQuest_ and its crew were proof of that.

"Sooner or later they'll find someone else to harass. Probably about something just as trivial when they should be reporting on something important," Sam noted. Alex didn't look relieved by the prospect.

"It would be nice if it was sooner rather than later," she replied drearily and shoved a bite of food into her mouth. By now, it was cold and decidedly less savory than it had started out but she ate it anyway.

"You know one of these days I'm going to have to meet Lucas face to face. He's a cute one," Sam commented, changing the subject before Alex could go off on another rant. She would, given the opportunity.

Alex gave her a measuring look for a moment before replying. "Mine. You can't have him. How would you know if he was cute or not? You've never met him. What happened to what's his name? David... anyway?"

The redhead snickered. "You have enough pictures of him plastered around your office I couldn't avoid them if I wanted to. It's Dennis now. David got boring," she answered with a tone of feigned disappointment.

"Boring? I swear you go through men like I go through socks. It's a new one every week," Alex joked back, picking at her food and discarding bits of it that had gone stale during her vidlink conversation.

"Well. I lose interest easily. They're all just so dull after a while. Besides variety is the spice of life."

"Uh huh. You sound like Tony Piccolo's female counter part," Alex laughed.

"Tony Piccolo? Who's that? When's the last time you actually got to see Lucas anyway?" Sam asked finishing the last of her lunch.

"Tony is Lucas's roommate on the _seaQuest_. He's the one I should introduce you too. You two would get along wonderfully. And I haven't seen Lucas since Christmas. The _seaQuest_ was too far away on Valentine's Day." Alex told her wistfully. She missed Lucas, they didn't spend as much time together as she would have liked and the sometimes months long separations had resulted in Lucas asking her to stay on the _seaQuest_ multiple times.

She had always said no, wanting to reestablish the life she had left abruptly on hold six years before the Sanborn incident. Recently she had begun to wonder if she shouldn't just accept the offer. It would certainly reduce her daily headaches with the press and she could always do her research on board. In fact, she could probably recruit the boat's doctor, Wendy Smith, to help her. But she had found something satisfying about establishing her own biomedical research company and pursuing the work she had originally intended to before she had spent six years in a coma.

There was no reason she couldn't return to _seaQuest_ now if she had chosen to. All her court appearances for the Sanborn trials were over with but something she tried to ignore kept her from going back. All the same, it was times like these she wondered if she was doing the right thing.

"Two months? How do you deal with it? I'd go nuts inside of a week." Sam wondered as she got up to drop her disposable plate and food wrappers in the trash reclamation unit. It whirred and grated as it ate the debris like a trash-eating goblin.

"I don't see how. You're never with a guy long enough to miss him! It's not easy. It helps that I have the money to fly wherever he happens to have leave. As long as he's on dry land long enough for me to get there. But I still miss him most of the time despite all the vidlink calls, especially on holidays." Alex answered pushing potato chips around on her plate, trying to decide which ones looked like they were still viable as food and hide the melancholy expression that shadowed her face briefly.

"Well, I don't think I'd be able to take it if I were you. I bet the holidays are hard to deal with. What did he get you this time?" Sam queried leaning against the table beside Alex.

"Flowers and a book on the complete history of the human genome project."

It had become a habit of theirs to discuss the gifts the men in their lives gave them from one girl to another. Some of those gifts left them both wondering what the male of the species was thinking when they purchased them.

"A book? He got you a book?" Sam said exasperated. It was the last thing she would have wanted from a guy, maybe a book on 50 ways to please your lover, but the human genome project? No, she would have had fits.

"Hey I like books. Turned out to be a pretty good read too. We might have finished mapping the human genome over a decade ago but there were lots of little tidbits in there I didn't know. Besides at least it's not what he got me the first Christmas we spent together."

"Oh no, what was that?"

"A fluorescence microscope," Alex said and waited for her reaction.

"He got you lab equipment? What was he thinking?" Sam's tone betrayed the gender based horror at being given what amounted to an appliance as a gift.

"It's the thought that counts. Besides, I use that thing every day. It's not like he hasn't ever gotten me something girly," Alex pointed out. Sam didn't look convinced.

"You know the vial necklace I sometimes wear? Ever notice it glows? It's filled with a kind of bioluminescent algae. He figured out how to get it to live on its own suspension fluid and glow indefinitely. He gave me a vial of it as a pendant on our first Valentine's Day." Alex continued.

"So he gave you a vial of pond scum?" Sam couldn't figure out why anyone would want a vial of algae whether it glowed or not.

"I happen to like that necklace!" Alex shot back defensively. She had thought it a unique and thoughtful gift no matter what Sam thought. Sam looked like she might laugh at the absurdity of it all but someone knocked on the laboratory door loudly.

"I'll get it. Finish your lunch," Sam said and moved to answer the door. Alex gave her food a disgusted look and pushed it aside. "What lunch?"

Instead, Alex chose to get back to work. She bowed her head over her microscope again and resumed the task she had left unfinished before she had attempted to eat lunch. Examining and tagging DNA samples in an attempt to trace those that looked like they might have a natural resistance to heart diseases. She could hear Sam's side of the conversation at the door.

"I'll sign for it."

"Thank you."

"Will I what?"

"No, I don't think so not in this life time."

The lab door slamming shut with a resounding thud followed the last statement.

"What was all that about?" Alex asked not looking up from her work. She alternated between peering into the microscope and jotting down notes in an increasingly thick notebook. She heard Sam sigh behind her and set down something.

"Oh nothing, just a delivery of stem cells. The delivery guy looked like he'd just climbed out of a vat of frying oil and had the nerve to ask me out for drinks. Just no, ew, no." Sam sounded so much like a stereotypical valley girl Alex couldn't help but chuckle.

"Ew." Sam said again.

"You already said that." Alex pointed out sarcastically. Lucas's sense of humor was beginning to wear off on her she thought.

"Different ew. There's coke all over this box. The other one is fine. But this one is just gross. All you can see are the words stem cells."

Alex sat up and turned her chair to face Sam.

"I didn't order two shipments. I ordered one." she said thinking it was odd they had sent more than she had asked for.

"Oh? They probably got the quantity wrong. I'll check them to be sure they are what they say they are just in case." Sam answered, eying the box with disdain.

"Alright, you better check the coke saturated box first. It may be contaminated." Alex told her before resuming her work. She heard the sounds of Sam stashing the other box in cold storage and the gags as she opened the soaked one. Alex pulled the slide she was working with off the specimen stand, recording the last data from it, and prepared another slide for examination.

Sam was doing the same thing with the possibly contaminated stem cells. Alex thought things were just fine for a few minutes before Sam spoke again.

"That's weird."

"Weird? That's a real scientific observation Sam." Alex joked. Sam had her head crammed so far into the microscope it looked like she had it embedded in her head.

"Well it is weird. I've never seen stem cells like these. They must be contaminated after all." Sam insisted still glued to the microscope.

"Box them back up and I'll call Gen-Med as soon as I'm done with this." Alex said mildly. She was too busy with what she was doing to worry about a botched shipment of stem cells she hadn't even ordered.

Sam started to do just that, but accidentally knocked a glass of water over sending its contents spilling over the table. She scrambled to mop it up. Alex shook her head in exasperation.

"There's a reason I keep telling you no open containers at your station," she reprimanded gently. Sam was still busy trying to mop up the water before it could start dripping onto the floor or find its way to the equipment.

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just water." Sam said with chagrin. Alex didn't say anything, she just wrote down more observations from her current sample. A lack of order was the only habit Sam had that drove her nuts. Throughout the lab, the one thing you could count on was order. She didn't demand much but she insisted on things being neat at all times.

"Uh Oh," came Sam's voice. Alex sat straight up from her station, set down her pen and spun the chair around apprehensively. Sam was peering back into her microscope, presumably checking it for water damage.

"Uh oh? Uh oh what? Never say uh oh in a lab."

Alex got up making her way over to Sam's station. Sam still hadn't looked up.

"Well?" she queried insistently.

"Some of the stem cells are attacking the others," Sam observed prying herself away from the microscope. Alex knitted her eyebrows in confusion.

"Put it up on the main screen," she ordered turning to face the wall panel they used for large-scale visualization of samples. Sam did as she was told and Alex actually found herself walking toward the screen as if she could somehow get a closer look than the screen provided.

On screen what should have been normal stem cells meant for research were changing at an exponential rate. They were multiplying and dividing so fast it looked like someone was using time-lapse photography. Not only were they growing in number they were attacking, invading and then changing the normal stem cells around them.

"What exactly are they doing?" Sam asked. Alex hadn't said a word since the image had been pulled up. She stood there with her arms crossed watching it with utter fascination.

"I have no idea," Alex answered never taking her eyes off the screen.


	5. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Alex spent the rest of the day attempting to figure out what exactly the abnormal stem cells were doing and why. But the only sample that showed the rapid division, multiplication, attack and invade characteristics was the sample Sam had been looking at. The other samples from the same box held relatively normal stem cells. Relatively meaning they didn't exhibit the same behaviors, they were still not normal.

They seemed to be perfect. Absolutely perfect in every conceivable way. Except no cell was perfect, on the genetic level all cells carried imperfections, genetic anomalies so small they never affected their carriers unless specific and rare circumstances were met. She was assuming at the moment that they had stumbled across a random mutation that was unlikely to present itself again but curiosity still made her want to know what had caused that mutation.

She had told Sam to go home hours ago. By now it was four in the morning and she could barely stay awake. Finally deciding that she needed sleep more than a sated curiosity, she packed the samples back in their box, carefully marked the one exhibiting odd behavior and stored them until morning. She would have to pick up where she left off then. Right now she was lucky she wasn't stumbling around like a drunken person from exhaustion. Alex made sure everything was in order, grabbed her purse, took one final look over the lab to be sure she hadn't forgotten anything and then locked up heading for her car.

The parking lot was nearly pitch black, several of the security lights had gone out. Alex grumbled under her breath and spent ten minutes trying to remember where she had parked. Finally she remembered and drug her lagging behind into the vehicle, a simple but efficient four-door sedan in a muted blue shade.

She had bought the vehicle when Lucas had been on leave. He had tried in vain to convince her to buy the latest sports car but ever the practical minded she had refused and bought this one instead. Lucas had proceeded to install every high tech gadget he could get away with into it. She hated to admit it but those gadgets came in handy on occasion. The communications and navigation systems far exceeded the ones it had come with. The entire vehicle could be run on voice commands leaving her hands free. All in all she enjoyed the modifications he had made. The one thing she hadn't let him do was to hot rod the engine. He had protested that it would be much more efficient and she had insisted that she liked the vehicle just fine the way it was. He had relented when she conceded that she liked all the other tweaks.

Despite the lack of traffic on the road, the drive to her house seemed to take far longer than it usually did. The night passing by in a heat thickened cloud as she drove. When she finally made it there she trudged inside, dropped everything she was carrying on the kitchen table, hauled herself up the stairs to her bedroom and stripped. There was something distinctly comforting about coming to this house. She had grown up in it.

When her parents had died, she had inherited it along with all their financial holdings. That, combined with the residuals from the synthetic pancreas she developed before she had gone missing seven and a half years ago, had left her a rich woman. She could have bought a posh mansion on the beach and lived like a celebrity. Instead she had chosen to stay here in the same middle class, brick shingled, stucco house she had known all her life. Despite that decision, she still couldn't call it home. For some reason the word just wouldn't come when she tried to say it.

Alex made up her mind that it was just too much hassle at this hour and forwent pajamas. Underwear would suffice she thought collapsing into the warmth of her plush, soft bed with utter abandon.

Alex woke the next morning three hours later than she usually did. The clock beside her bed proclaimed it nine in the morning already. Alex shoved her head under a pillow and groaned, squashing the desire to ignore the hour and just go back to sleep until noon.

Groggily she got out of the bed and threw herself into the shower. It did something to help wake her up at least. Now slightly less of a zombie she stumbled down stairs for coffee in her robe. After two cups and thirty minutes of staring at the television blankly, she felt more human than zombie, so she trekked back upstairs to get dressed.

She noticed her vidlink was flashing one missed call. Flicking the screen on she watched the message as she dressed. It was Lucas.

"Hey Alex. It's two in the morning over there where are you?" his image asked her.

"I just wanted to let you know we'll be in New Cape Quest in two days. I can't wait to see you. Maybe this time you'll decide to come back with me."

The image paused and Alex stopped dressing to watch him sitting there in his quarters contemplating what to say next. They had argued so many times about when or even if she would come back to the _seaQuest_ she could repeat her side of the argument by rote.

It wasn't that she didn't want to be with him; it wasn't that she didn't want to be on _seaQuest_. She just wasn't sure she was ready to commit to it yet. Not when she wasn't entirely sure she had gotten her life back where it would have been if she hadn't spent six years in a coma. She couldn't give herself over to him damaged and lacking. She had to be whole and stable. She had to be the person she should have been without the interference of a lunatic. Then there was this gnawing fear that somehow all of this was too good to be true and somehow, some way it would all come crashing down around her ears when she least expected it. She was unconsciously keeping her distance out of fear and a sense that she wasn't good enough.

Abruptly Tony's face appeared in the frame preempting a disgruntled Lucas.

"Hey doll. If you don't accept soon I'm going to kill him. He's impossible to live with now," he joked while Lucas attempted to shove him out of the frame. A few seconds of rough housing and Lucas had the screen back. Alex grinned back at the vidlink despite the fact the message was hours old. It was a miracle those two hadn't killed each other ages ago.

"Sorry. Anyway, I love you and I'll see you soon." Again, his image paused looking slightly melancholy.

"I miss you sweetheart," he said sweetly and smiled. Suddenly he turned away from the screen and shouted. "Hey, put that down!" The last thing that could be heard was Tony's sarcastic laughter as the message ended.

Alex snickered as the screen clicked off. Tony Piccolo was always good for comic relief when you least expected or wanted it. On impulse, she donned the vial necklace Lucas had given her, talking about it the night before and seeing Lucas's message had made her nostalgic. Pulling her hair back in an elastic band she left the vidlink behind. Shrugging on her lab coat, she grabbed her keys and purse and headed out the door. She would worry about breakfast later. She was already late enough as it was.

The entire way to work she drove along humming to the radio until a song that evoked every lonely feeling she could have away from Lucas came on. She promptly switched it off before she began to second-guess her decision to live a separate life, he would be here in two days after all. She had to stick to her guns. It wouldn't be fair to him if she went back incomplete, no matter how badly she wanted to be with him.

The last year and a half had turned her back into her old self more or less. So much so that if she hadn't maintained regular contact with several members of the crew via consultations for various things over the course of that time period and the occasional outing with some of them when she saw Lucas on leave, they wouldn't have known she was the same person. Despite regaining her normal personality, her time with Sanborn had left its mark. She felt broken somehow, afloat like drift wood on a rough tide.

That broken feeling was the main reason she hadn't returned to _seaQuest_ yet. She felt like she was trying to find something and she didn't know what. Even regular therapy sessions hadn't been able to assuage the feeling. She could not bring herself to commit to Lucas completely when he had already risked life and limb to save her from Sanborn. She didn't think it would be fair to saddle him with a person who couldn't even seem to find herself. He didn't deserve to spend the rest of his life saving her from herself or trying to fix her broken psyche. She thought about the odd stem cells waiting for her at the lab instead.

She knew what they did, she just couldn't figure out why they did it. The why intrigued her as much or more than the what. If they weren't just a random mutation what else could have caused them to act that way? The only other answer that came to mind was that they had been engineered. But if they were, why?

She turned the dilemma over and over in her head as she drove. Alex was so focused on it she barely paid attention as she pulled into the lab parking lot and found a parking space. She had her own parking space but no one seemed to understand the concept of reserved parking here so she found the closest one instead.

She continued to think the stem cell question over in her head as she made her way up to the lab. She only dispensed with mulling it over when she had to disarm the door's security. She stopped and looked unblinking into a retina scanner, simultaneously placing her palm on a hand scanner and waited for it to let her through. This little piece of ingenuity had been Lucas's idea too. Everywhere around her were little touches of his ingenuity, an indelible reminder of his presence. It was comforting and left her with a sense of loneliness at the same time.

She wasn't entirely sure her lab required security this complex but he had insisted. The UEO had agreed with him in the end, insisting that the project fell under UEO security clearance. She thought having high-level security for a biomedical research lab focused on creating materials for use in the medical field was a bit asinine but one couldn't argue with the UEO. With a whirr the scanner accepted her hand print and retinal scan, releasing the door with a metallic click-buzz. She started around it absently, not bothering to look up as she entered the room.

"Sorry I'm so late Sam. I slept right through my..." she began to explain, finally looking up as the whine of a pulse gun got her attention. "...alarm," she finished taking in the scene before her. "Oh, this is bad," she breathed.


	6. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Alex felt the muzzle of a pulse gun against her back. A man she didn't know, dressed as a police officer, had Sam by the arm, his gun pressed into her side. Sam looked like her hair might turn white with fear. Alex had lived through more than a few guys waving guns around impressively. It was going to take more than that to make her panic, though she felt a knot of fear take hold in her stomach.

"The last time I checked the police didn't use guns on civilians without a good reason. Who are you and what do you want?" she asked keeping her voice level and raising her hands automatically, showing she posed no threat. She didn't think they were police officers but whoever they were they meant business. She tried to take in all she could about them, looking for something on them that might tell her where they came from and possibly why they were here. But there was nothing, they looked like every other police officer she had ever seen. The only thing odd about them was their ill-fitting uniforms; one looked a bit too small the other a tad too large. That told her that whoever they were they were not what they appeared to be.

The man who had Sam under his gun sneered. "You have something we need Ms. Northman. Now then, your assistant here says she can't retrieve it but you can. Just give me the box you received yesterday in error and we'll be on our way," he menaced.

Alex kept herself from shooting Sam a confused glance. There was no reason she couldn't have given them the box of stem cells. The cold storage required a code to access it but both of them knew it, it wasn't under special security. There was more going on here than she knew about so she played along. The man knew her name; he had to have gotten it from somewhere. Alex hazarded a guess.

"Watch the news do we? She's right; she can't give you what you want. She doesn't have the authorization for it," she said with slight arrogance. The arrogance was to irritate them; she hoped it might provoke them into letting something slip. Alex felt the man behind her dig the gun barrel in a little further for her jib.

It wasn't that she wasn't afraid, she was, one shot from those guns and both her and Sam would be dead before they hit the floor. Both guns' power settings gleamed a dull red indicating they were set to full force. She knew something was up and if they wanted the stem cells there had to be a reason. Whatever that reason was she doubted it was good. With the level of UEO security this lab was under if there was a legal reason to get those stem cells from her, UEO officials would have been the ones knocking on the door not police officers. Whatever their reason was she didn't think she could let them get their hands on those stem cells.

"Yeah I watch the news. Now get me the stem cells," The first man snapped. Alex sneered back at him and refused to move. If they wanted them, it was going to take more than simply ordering her to do it.

The man behind her shoved her and Alex stumbled forward, forcing him to push her every step of the way toward the cold storage. Finally annoyed with her resistance he whipped her around to face him.

"Get the stem cells," he ordered burying the gun in her stomach. Alex swallowed hard and tried not to let her apprehension show. Sam, however, wasn't trying to hide her own fear. Her eyes were white rimmed and wide. Sweat filmed her skin and she was trembling in terror.

Despite that, she had had the forethought and sense to realize that this was not police procedure and something must be up. Alex hoped she could keep it together long enough for them to get out of here alive. She just had no idea how they were supposed to do that.

"Go to hell." Alex said through clenched teeth, looking the man directly in the eye. It might have been more imposing if he hadn't been at least a foot taller than she was. If it wasn't imposing, it was infuriating. The man hauled back and struck her across the cheek with the gun muzzle, sending her reeling. Alex yelped in shock as much as pain.

Sam whimpered in fear but the first man silenced her with a rough jerk. Alex regained her balance, one hand going to her face. The blow had left a shallow, bloody, furrow behind. She knew now there was not going to be a way to bluff them. She would have to try a different tactic.

"Why do you want them anyway? They're just stem cells," she asked biding for time. She had to think fast, she seriously doubted these men intended to leave them alive. They would either take them with them and kill them later or leave their bodies here for someone to find.

"I think you know they're not just stem cells Ms. Northman. Now get them or I'll kill your friend here." the first man spat, his finger tightening on his gun's trigger and placing it to Sam's temple.

Alex was in a hard spot, it was hand over the stem cells or watch Sam die. She either had to come up with something completely brilliant or incredibly lucky. She winged it and prayed she would get lucky. Brilliant didn't seem to be in the game plan just now.

"Fine. Alright." she assented and moved carefully for the cold storage. The first man still had his gun trained on Sam and the other followed her every movement with his own.

Watching both men warily, she keyed in the code to open the cold storage door, taking as long as she dared, waiting for a chance for escape or action to present itself. She pretended to be having difficulty getting the box to unwedge from the small shelves, inconspicuously slipping several of the vials into her pocket as she did so. Neither of the men seemed to notice. She risked stalling a moment longer before she finally managed to free the box. Both men exchanged a look of impatience; it might be the only chance she had so Alex acted while she could.

"Here, catch!" she shouted and tossed the box over her shoulder. Both men dived for it, lest it hit the floor and break the contents. Alex whirled and dashed past them grabbing a terror frozen Sam's wrist. They hurtled out the door and into the hallway.

Alex veered for the stairwell, but Sam automatically turned for the elevator in her frantic desire to get away. Alex pulled her along despite it.

"What are you doing! The elevators are the other way!" Sam pleaded desperately as Alex hauled her along.

"I know. That trick isn't going to stall them long the elevator will take too long." Alex panted as they ran. Sam looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

"We're ten floors up!" she squawked at her as they reached the stairwell. Alex wrenched the door to it open and shoved Sam through in front of her. She couldn't risk her trying to bolt for the elevators.

"Just trust me. If we take the elevators, they'll take the stairwell and beat us down. Now run!" she said firmly. Sam looked like she might protest but survival instinct seemed to take over and she pelted down the stairs as fast as her legs would carry her. Alex followed after, only taking the time to lock the stairwell door behind her. That would buy them some time. Neither of them spoke as they raced down the stairs, it took everything they had just to keep up the pace and not fall face first down the narrow incline.

Alex thought rapidly as she ran. Sam was not used to dealing with mad men with their own agendas who thought shooting people was acceptable collateral damage. She was going to have to take charge if they were going to get out of this alive. There was only one problem. Alex might have dealt with people like this before but she was no tactician and she had no idea what to do next. She was running on gut reactions and hoping to God that she was right.

Somewhere above them, she heard the sound of pulse fire and the stairwell door slam; she ignored it and kept running. If she looked back she would waste valuable time, if she saw them on their heels she might freeze in fear and end up dead. Sam was panting in front of her barely able to keep up the hounding pace. Alex thanked fate for all the times she had spent swimming with Lucas in the _seaQuest's_ aqua tubes or the ocean while he taught her to swim. It had given her a stamina she didn't know she had. By now she could hear the men clanking down the stairs above them; they couldn't be more than two floors behind.

Alex and Sam lurched through the ground level door into the lobby and bolted for the doors, passing several bewildered people in their rush. Alex thought briefly of stopping and telling them what was going on then decided against it. The men following them would no doubt kill anyone that got in their way. Better those innocent bystanders not be pulled into what was quickly becoming a life style of hit and run survival. She could only hope one of them might see something was not right and call the actual authorities.

Sunlight momentarily blinded them as they pounded into the parking lot and stopped dead. Now what do we do? Alex thought racking her brain. Runaway. Find help. What help? Car, get in the car and run. Her brain threw at her. Sam was bent half over panting with exhaustion so hard she could barely speak.

"Now what?" she rasped between gasps for air. Alex was looking around the parking lot frantically.

"We get out of here. Where's my car?" Alex said without looking at her. Sam choked in panic.

"You don't know where you parked your car!" She squawked. Alex ignored her trying to see the car from her vantage point and keep an eye on the lobby doors at the same time. The men couldn't be far behind them. She hit her alarm remote and listened for the responding beep from her car. Taillights flashed a few rows down. She grabbed Sam by the wrist again and ran for the car, pulse bolts flying too close for comfort. The men had caught up to them.

Alex wrenched the door of her car open and shoved Sam in. Sam did as she was told; she didn't really have much choice considering the circumstances. She clambered over the middle console and into the passenger's seat. Alex slid in to the driver's seat, stuck the keys in the ignition and started the car. It roared to life as she slammed the door, pulling her seat belt on. Alex threw the car into reverse and floored it, heading for the main road. She had no idea where she was going but it was away from here. Sam was looking at her as if she had lost her mind again.

"Buckle up, this is going to be a bumpy ride," Alex advised. A glance in the rear view mirror showed that the men were following on their tails, in a police car no less. As she swerved out onto the road, she briefly wondered if they had killed the officers the car really belonged to. Sam had followed her advice and put on her seat belt, she was gripping the dashboard as if she might fly out the windshield if she didn't.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked the fear evident in her voice. Alex shook her head trying to keep an eye on the police car behind them as they entered lunchtime traffic at seventy miles an hour.

"I don't know. UEO Headquarters?" Alex reasoned. Sam looked like she had been slapped. "You don't have a plan?" she wailed. Alex dodged in and out of traffic like she was pole bending. "No. I didn't exactly have time to make one up!" Alex shot back with more force than she had intended, her temper was getting increasingly short. The car jolted forward violently as the police car rammed them from behind. It was faster than they were and she couldn't seem to shake them.

"At this rate we're never going to make it to UEO Headquarters!" Sam rattled gripping the dashboard harder; her fingertips had turned bone white. Alex knew she was right though she kept driving in the direction of UEO Headquarters anyway. It was the best plan they had at the moment.

"You're right. We need help," Alex admitted.

"What help?" Sam spat. Alex was too busy trying to out distance the police car to answer.

"Computer. Outgoing communication. S_eaQuest DSV_, authorization I.D. CIV22-59...," Alex ordered the voice controls, but it cut her off. "Cannot execute command, voice recognition failed," It droned.

Alex tried it again, raising her voice and yelling at it, for what reason she couldn't exactly explain, as she turned down a side road trying to lose the police car not two lengths behind them.

"Outgoing communication. S_eaQuest DSV_, authorization I.D. CIV22-...," she started again. The computer spat out its error message again. Alex hit the steering wheel in frustration.

"Damn it! You're going to have to do it manually Sam," she said dodging an oncoming car, she was in the wrong lane trying to force the police car to drop back. It wasn't working.

"What? Me?" Sam railed; she was so panic stricken she wasn't thinking straight. "Yes you. I can't I'm driving. Key it in as I relay it. Come on Sam you can do this." Alex pleaded braking into a turn and sending the car's back end skidding out wildly.

"Okay. Okay. I can do this." Sam told herself as much as Alex, pulling up the manual communications control and preparing to enter the code.

"Call s_eaQuest DSV_. I.D. CIV22-5912-HL7, hit send and pray," Alex ordered. She was back to weaving in and out of traffic. She heard Sam hit send and the uplink beep searching for the message recipient. Alex hoped this was the right thing to do. She didn't know who else to call for help.


	7. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Lucas Wolenczak was in the middle of what looked like a very serious debate with Tony Piccolo and Captain Bridger on the sea deck. Tony was perched on the edge of the pool in his wet suit still damp from a swim with Darwin, his gills fluttering gently from their exposed holes in the wet suit.

"You don't think it's too small?" Lucas asked for the fourth time. Captain Bridger shook his head looking down at whatever it was.

"Again no. What do you want it to be? The size of a torpedo?" he quipped. Tony had his own opinion.

"I told you it should be bigger. I mean, come on if you're gonna do something do it in a big way," he countered. Bridger shot him an oh-please-you-have-no-idea-what-you-are-talking-about look.

"If it were any bigger you wouldn't be able to lift it!" he shot back. Lucas looked like he was making a life and death decision, his brows were knitted together and his mouth was set.

"This is impossible. No matter what I do. I know I'm going to get it wrong," he complained. Bridger clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly. Tony just snickered.

"You'll do fine. You always do. Just be sure you are doing the right thing first," Nathan assured and warned him in one breath. Lucas shot an annoyed glance at the captain. Bridger was perfectly willing to encourage him in this endeavor as long as he thought it was the right thing to do but Bridger had cautioned him several times already that he had better be sure before he actually tried what he was planning.

"Lucas, I'm telling you if you don't make it bigger and better you're gonna fail," Tony insisted. Lucas glared at him.

"You aren't helping," he growled.

"Hey don't ask for an opinion if you don't want it," Tony spat at him. Lucas gave him a put upon look.

"I didn't ask for your opinion I asked for the Captain's." he retorted. Tony looked offended and snorted.

"Oh well excuse me boy wonder," he shot at him. The debate might have devolved into an argument. It had on more than one occasion. This was a problem Lucas had been trying to figure out for weeks. But Lt. O'Neill's voice came over the comm system.

"Lucas, I've got an incoming message from Alex, priority one. She sounds pretty distressed."

That ended any argument that might have ensued. Lucas shoved his hands behind his back as if he were hiding something. Tony had clamped his mouth shut and Bridger looked concerned.

"Put her through down here. What do you mean she sounded distressed? Is she okay?" Lucas said worried.

"Exactly that. She sounded distressed. I can't see her," O'Neill explained. Now Lucas really was concerned, all three of them shared a confused glance as O'Neill's voice clicked off and the nearby vidlink popped up the image of something. It took a minute for any of them to figure out what it was. They were staring at the backseat of a car. Alex was nowhere in sight.

"Alex? What is it? What's wrong?" Lucas asked.

"Turn it!" Alex's voice said sharply.

"Turn what?" another female voice demanded frantically. The sound of car wheels squealing could be heard.

"The screen, turn it!" Alex's voice shot back. There was a choked off scream from both voices and the screen tilted and whirled.

"Where did you learn to drive! You're crazy!" the other female voice railed.

"My father. Stop complaining and hold on!" Alex's voice commanded. Finally, the screen stopped spinning, showing a brief glimpse of a terrified red head and focused on Alex's profile. Lucas sucked in a breath, Alex's hair was in complete disarray, and most of it had escaped its confines at the base of her neck and fell in a tangled snarl. There was a bloody gash running across her cheek.

"Alex! What's going on? You're hurt." Lucas nearly yelled at her.

"I'll be fine. I'm being chased by cops only they aren't. Kinda need some help here. Anything will do," Alex said with deceptive calm, she rocked forward and metal screamed. Now Bridger stepped in.

"Cops? Alex?" he asked his head popping into the frame. Not that it mattered Alex had her eyes focused on the road.

"Hi Captain. I don't really have time to explain right now. Can somebody just tell me somewhere I can go before I end up upside down in a canal? I'm not going to make it to UEO Headquarters," Alex tried to say with as much pleasantness as she could given the circumstances.

"What'd you do jump bail?" Tony quipped.

"Alex, we can't help you if we don't have any idea what you've gotten in the middle of," Lucas reasoned, somehow his voice remained tempered even though he wanted to grab the vidlink and shake it as if it was a person.

"No. I didn't jump bail Tony. Fine, Okay. Sam you explain, fast," Alex said to the other occupant of the car. The screen unfocused and a red head came into view. White as a sheet, eyes wide as half dollar coins.

"Oh she's cute," Tony popped off. Bridger and Lucas both shot him a look. "What? She is," Tony defended.

"Well, we sorta accidentally found something someone didn't want us to find." Sam said her voice wavering with fear.

"What something?" Bridger asked sidling Tony and Lucas nearly out of the frame. This was what he was good at Tony and Lucas were out of their element.

"Stem cells, that don't act like stem cells. A shipment of them showed up yesterday by accident. This morning two men dressed as cops showed up wanting them back with extreme prejudice." Sam said. She slammed out of the frame and Alex's face came back into view for a split second. Metal screeched in one long wail, the screen turned topsy-turvy and both women screamed.

"They're trying to run us off the road! Why is it when you need a cop there is never one around?" Alex declared angrily from off screen. Sam's face came back into view, hair more rumpled than ever.

"We kinda need some where to go here! We don't have time to explain anymore!" Sam shot at Nathan in panic.

"Alright. Where are you?" he asked ignoring the lack of respect the comment showed given the circumstances. People could be rather rude when terrified. He knew she likely meant nothing by it. There was a long pause.

"North bound on Jessup, just passed Olive." Alex shouted over the sounds of the car's engine.

"I have no idea where that is. Lucas can you get me a read out on that area?" Bridger shot. Lucas was one-step ahead of him; he tackled the nearest computer console and began trying to pull up a schematic of that area. Tony shouldered his way back into the frame.

"I do Captain. I know someplace to send her." he said confidently. Nathan didn't hesitate moving out of Tony's way.

"By all means." he said.

"Alex take the next left!" Tony ordered her.

"The next one? I already passed it! Hold on." she rattled, they could all hear the car protest as gears were skipped and it was thrown in reverse. The screen's image wavered all over and Sam popped back into view.

"Where are you sending us?" she asked the panic in her voice rising.

"A bookie friend of mine who owes me. Head east on Third Street." Tony explained.

"A bookie? We're being chased by mad henchmen and he sends me to a bookie! Tony that'll take us into the Acreage. We'll be sitting ducks!" Alex shouted in disbelief. Tony rolled his eyes at the screen.

"Just do it! He ain't exactly you're run of the mill bookie. You wanna get out of this alive?" Tony shot back. Lucas had left the computer console and joined Tony. Bridger stood back and let Tony direct Alex despite any misgivings he might have had. They didn't have time to plot an escape route.

"Alex trust him." Lucas pleaded, worry etched into his face.

"I am but a bookie? I'm on Third." Alex railed again, the screen turned completely sideways and Sam turned even whiter if that were possible.

"You just took a corner on two wheels at a hundred and twenty miles an hour!" Sam protested.

"You wanna drive?" Alex spat. Sam shook her head rapidly. "Alright then!" Alex said.

"A hundred and twenty? You're car isn't going to last long at those speeds. The electrical system is going to overheat and short out or explode. It's a sedan not a race car. You have to slow down Alex." Lucas put in.

"I can't! That cop car can go a hundred and fifty. Where ever we're going had better be close!" Alex shot back.

"You should have let me and Henderson enhance the engine when I offered the first time then you wouldn't have to worry about it," Lucas chided.

"I don't think now is a good time to debate it Lucas!" Alex snapped back as Bridger turned to leave.

"Where are you going Captain?" Lucas asked frantic.

"To get this boat to New Cape Quest as fast as we can. Whatever Alex has gotten herself into I don't think she's going to be able to handle it alone and I have a sneaking suspicion the New Cape Quest Police Department isn't going to be much help. You two just try and make sure she gets some where safe in the meantime," he explained and disappeared without another word.

"Take Nineteenth Street South!" Tony shot into the conversation. Car wheels squealed again and Alex could be heard groaning with the effort it took to keep a car going that fast from careening off the road on its own.

"Done!" Alex shouted.

"Take Oakridge, at the end of the road there'll be a chain link gate. Tell them I sent you." Tony instructed.

"Yes sir!" Alex shot back, the first break in the tension of her voice seeping through since she had called _seaQuest_.

"Alex, listen to me. Even at top speed, it's going to take us at least twelve hours to get there. We're in the South Pacific. You have got to stay hidden until we get there." Lucas told her.

"I will. Just hurry up!" Alex replied her head ducking out of view. They could hear the sound of breaking glass.

"Oh now they decide to shoot at us!" Sam yelled. Tony and Lucas could hear the car beginning to cut out.

"There's the gate! Hold on, I'm gonna drive through it!" Alex shouted.

"It's closed!" Sam screamed back.

"I know that!" Alex yelled. Tony and Lucas both heard it when the car plowed through the gate, the clatter and rattle of chain link fencing hitting the hood and being thrown through the air could be heard even through the vidlink. The screen steadied as Alex slammed on the breaks and from somewhere sparks issued. Alex's eyes went wide.

"Get out of the car!" Alex screamed. The last thing Tony or Lucas saw was fire and the sound of the car exploding. They could only hope both women had made it out before it could explode.


	8. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Lucas had been pacing around the confines of his quarters for at least half an hour. It had already been ten hours and he had worried himself into a frenzy. Tony was lying on his bunk trying to distract himself by looking through swimsuit magazines. Despite the forced facade of calm, he wasn't any calmer than Lucas but it wouldn't help for both of them to be frantic. Someone had to be the calm one.

There had been no word from Alex since they had lost the transmission when the car exploded and no response when they had tried to contact the bookie Tony had sent her to directly.

"Lucas, I'm telling you she is fine. She has to be," Tony tried for what had to be the tenth time in as many minutes. Lucas cast him a despondent and slightly agitated glance as he made a circuit of the room again. If the floors hadn't been metal he would have worn a rut into them already.

"You can't know that," Lucas reasoned. Here he was with big plans of his own, waging a war he didn't know if he could win when he hadn't even won the first battle and Alex might be dead. Blown to pieces in that explosion and his plans would mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. He shut his eyes and shook his head, trying to shove the image of her torn to bits from his mind, but it just wouldn't go away.

"Okay. I can't know that. But you gotta think positive Lucas. Wait until we get there before you go jumping to conclusions," Tony said giving up all pretense of reading and sitting up on his bunk.

"I can't help it! I lost her once, she was dead as far as anybody knew, and I almost lost her again in that god-forsaken lab of Sanborn's. Every time I turn around something is trying to take her away from me! If I just had her here and not running around up there maybe I could keep her safe," Lucas explained, his hands waving around to emphasize the point. He had run his hands through his dark blonde hair so many times it looked like a rat's nest.

It wasn't just that he thought she would be safer on board _seaQuest_. He had grown increasingly worried over the last few months that she had no intention of coming back at all and he didn't understand why. Her affection for him hadn't changed and she didn't seem to want to end the relationship but for some reason she refused to come back. His mind worked overtime when he didn't keep it occupied making up reasons for it. Most of them probably ludicrous and absurd.

"Yeah, maybe. But how many times have you barely escaped dying? On this boat? What makes you think she would be any safer here than she is up there? It's not where she is Lucas and you know it. You're afraid she's going to get bored with you or find someone else. I've told you before that girl is yours hook line and sinker. Every time she's with you she only has eyes for you," Tony said, the words coming out in a flat tone. He had said this so many times in the past it was beginning to become a mantra.

"Yeah but how long before she gets tired of being alone? How long before the times between seeing each other and not become too much? I don't even know if there will be another time we see each other!" Lucas ranted still pacing. Tony sighed heavily.

"When it gets to that point she'll come back to the _seaQuest_ just like she said she would! She's the one who asked you to wait for her not the other way around! She's been in love with since you were fourteen! What you think she's gonna find some other computer genius to tickle her silicon chips?" Tony shot throwing in a bit of humor to take the edge off the conversation. Lucas didn't take it that way.

"Silicon chips? She's not a hard drive Tony!" he shot angrily.

"Hey, hey just trying to lighten up the conversation. Will you stop that? You're making me dizzy just watching you," Tony half apologized, hands up in surrender. Lucas threw himself into the nearby computer chair and glared at him.

"Why don't you ask Dr. Smith if she can tell you anything about Alex?" Tony suggested, he was going a bit batty watching Lucas drive himself crazy over this. Lucas's eyes brightened as he jumped to his feet.

"That's a good idea actually. I'll be right back," Lucas said and disappeared out the door. Tony lay back on the bunk again and let out a thankful sigh.

"Please take as long as you need," he muttered to thin air.

**#**#**

Lucas knocked on the door to Dr. Smith's office and waited for a response. He could hear her answer in a muffled voice.

"It's not locked," she said. Lucas opened the door, peering inside. Wendy was going over a stack of reports at her desk.

"Is now a bad time?" he asked hesitantly. Wendy smiled at him and set the reports aside.

"Not at all, come on in. You want me to see if Alex is alright don't you?" Wendy prompted with a knowing look.

"Well, yeah. I'm kinda worried. The last thing we heard was her car exploding. I don't know if she made it out. Am I that obvious?" he replied. Wendy shook her head.

"No, but I know it's what I would want to know if I were you. Nathan has already asked me to do the same thing. You just missed him. Besides you look like you're ready to chew your finger nails down to nubs," Wendy observed. Until then Lucas hadn't realized that was exactly what he had been doing. He pulled his finger out of his mouth and shoved his hands in his pockets. Wendy laughed softly.

"Sit down, and be as quiet as possible. I'll see if we're close enough for me to sense anything," she told him and settled back in her own chair closing her eyes. Lucas planted himself in another chair and shut his mouth and mind as tightly as he could waiting impatiently. Wendy was concentrating hard, her brows were creased, her dark hair adding a stern frame to her face and her mouth was in a firm frown. It seemed to take forever before she spoke, still scanning.

"She's alive. She's very worried and a little panicked. But she is fine," Wendy relayed and then chuckled outright. Alex had noticed the scan and was confused and no little angered by the intrusion, she didn't know who it was. Wendy let her know it was her before she could think some stranger was trying to pry into her thoughts and shut her completely out. She felt a sense of relief when Alex realized it was someone she knew and not an aggressive presence.

"She knows it's me. I thought she might be able to sense me scanning her. She's like you and Nathan," Wendy relayed. Lucas was so relieved to find out Alex wasn't dead he felt like someone had deflated him. Wendy smiled wide as she broke the contact and opened her eyes.

"The only other thing I got was exhaustion and an urgent desire for us to hurry. And love, for you. She loves you very much you know," Wendy said warmly. Lucas had the decency to blush slightly but it dissolved quickly. Knowing Alex was safe had sent him right back to his previous batch of worries.

"She does? I mean I know she does. But then why won't she come back to the _seaQuest_? What can she do up there she can't do here?" Lucas said before he had even thought about whom he had said it too. Wendy leaned forward in her chair resting her arms across her knees.

"She's a very independent woman Lucas. She will in her own time. Maybe life on a deep submergence vehicle isn't for her; maybe she just wants to get her life back to where it would have been if she hadn't spent six years in a coma. Maybe she's afraid she's broken merchandise and you don't deserve that. Have you ever thought about that?" she told him. Lucas shot her a confused look.

"She's not broken merchandise." Lucas said defensively. Wendy shook her head.

"We had counseling sessions remember? You can read a lot from a person during a session when you're an empath. She might not be broken merchandise but that doesn't mean she doesn't think she is," she informed him.

"I thought you weren't supposed to tell anyone what a patient said? You really think that might be it?" Lucas prodded.

"It's possible yes. And I haven't told you anything she said. I've only speculated. But it is something to keep in mind. By the way if you do what you are planning to you might just push her away, she might feel like you are trying to pressure her into coming back before she's ready," Wendy explained. Lucas looked rather shocked and swallowed hard.

"How do you know about that? Did Tony tell you?" Lucas spat, his temper flaring. Tony was supposed to keep his mouth shut.

"No you're broadcasting," Wendy observed with no little irony. Lucas turned a deeper shade of red.

"Well. I mean it's not that. I want to. I just don't know how to do it. I'm not trying to pressure her into anything," Lucas prattled. Wendy gave him a look, her blue eyes pinning him.

"Yes you are. You know you are. You think it's the only way she'll join you on _seaQuest_. Just, wait. Feel her out when she gets here. Maybe she's had a change of heart. Besides if you do it _that_ way it will ruin the whole atmosphere," she concluded with emphasis. Lucas swallowed again and tried to shut his thoughts off before he spewed out anything else he didn't want her to know. Wendy laughed again at the expression on his face. Lucas rose to leave and returned it nervously.

"Just don't tell anyone? And thank you Dr. Smith," he said. She smiled.

"Not a word out of me. Though when you do it I have to hear all the details," she said. Lucas actually smiled sheepishly.

"Deal," he said as he headed back to his quarters to wait out the rest of the trip with at least some peace of mind.

**#**#**

Lucas had managed to doze off for a short while once he knew Alex wasn't dead. Exhaustion had hit him like a sledgehammer and Tony had been more than happy to let him sleep. He had even dozed off himself. They both took a moment to wake to the sound of rapping on their door.

Lucas cracked one eye, wakefulness taking its time to kick in. Tony managed to stumble to the door first, swinging it open and staring out it with a dimwitted look on his face. It was Commander Ford.

"We dock in twenty minutes. Tony you're coming with us. We need you to give directions. Meet me in launch bay two as soon as you're dressed," he ordered. Tony had the sense to salute weakly and mumble "Aye Aye sir." Before the Commander left him to follow orders.

As soon as Lucas realized they were almost there he was wide-awake. He hopped down from his bunk and began throwing clothes on right along with Tony.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Going with you. What do you think?" Lucas said back matter of fact. Tony looked at him askance as he pulled on a shirt.

"I don't think Commander Ford or Captain Bridger are going to let you. You're a civilian Lucas," he replied. Lucas seemed non-pulsed.

"I'm going. One way or another," he said pulling on his shoes. Tony shrugged.

"Suit yourself," he said as he opened the door. He knew there was no point in arguing with Lucas once he had made up his mind. He would do whatever it was, with or without, permission.

Lucas followed him out into the corridor and they made their way to the launch bay, feet echoing with hollow clanks on the metal grating. Commander Ford sighed in exasperation when he saw Lucas in tow behind Tony but it was Captain Bridger who stepped in to stop him.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, a hand gently against his chest to stop his progress. Lucas looked dumbfounded by the remark.

"With you," he said shocked the Captain wouldn't have already come to that conclusion.

"I'm not going and neither are you. Somebody has to stay here and man the boat," Bridger said firmly but compassionately. Lucas put his shoulders back and looked defiant.

"I'm not a kid anymore Captain," he said with a tempered tone. He was going come hell or high water.

"What if it were you Captain? What if it were..." he started.

"What if were me and it was Carol up there you mean?" Bridger finished for him. Bridger looked at him for a moment in contemplation before responding.

"If I don't let you, you'll just find a way to sneak off the boat and follow them. And you're right if it were Carol I would want to go too," he said sighing. He paused again, looking like he was more than a little reluctant. Sometimes he forgot that Lucas was no longer the sixteen year old he had first met when he took command of the _seaQuest_.

"Alright. But you follow Commander Ford's and Brody's orders you understand? And get a vest on. If you get shot I don't want to have to patch you up," he said relenting.

"Thank you Captain!" Lucas gushed at him. Bridger smiled and squeezed his shoulder. Tony tossed Lucas a pulse bolt resistant vest and helped him get it fitted properly.

"I told you I was going," Lucas said grinning.

"Yeah, yeah. Just watch your back," Tony told him as he tugged the last clip on Lucas's vest into place.

"Lucas, you stay in the middle of the group so we can watch your rear. And don't do anything unless me or Ford tell you to," Brody added double-checking the vest. Commander Ford was checking weapons and dividing the men into two teams.

"Yes sir. Wait, don't I get a gun?" he asked. Brody shot him a lopsided grin.

"No way. You're a civilian. Besides, we can't have you shooting the first person who takes a pot shot at your girlfriend. We might need to interrogate them before you fill 'em full of holes," he said with good nature.

"How about after they're interrogated?" Lucas quipped. Brody lowered his voice.

"We'll see. Maybe I'll even hold them down for you," he joked.

"I heard that," Commander Ford said. Both of them clamped their mouths shut under the dark look Commander Ford leveled at them though neither of them could keep a grin from tugging at their lips as soon as he looked away.

"Alright men. Move out!" he ordered clapping Lucas on the shoulder as he went by.


	9. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The trip to the bookie's took all of forty five minutes. To Lucas it felt like it took four hours. It was the middle of the night, it was muggy and every biting insect known to man seemed to think he made a good buffet. The teams had taken two UEO issue Humvees and he had ended up crammed like a sardine into the first one with Commander Ford, Lt. Brody, and Tony. He thought he might throttle the lot of them before they could get there. The entire way Tony had been shooting off bad one-liners between directions and Commander Ford was doing his best to remain civil. It had been funny at first but the act was beginning to wear thin. Even if Lucas knew Tony tended to do it out of apprehension and nerves.

It didn't help that the vehicles had little in the way of air conditioning. Brody had called it four forty air conditioning. When Lucas had asked what he was talking about, he had grinned and explained what he meant. Four windows down at forty miles an hour. Lucas had failed to see the humor in it.

When they arrived at the bookie's things didn't look like they were getting any better. They drove through where the gate had once been, both halves of it still laid haphazard outside the fence, apparently no one had attempted to repair them yet. Alex's car had been pulled to one side in a heap of charred and twisted metal. The very idea that she might have been trapped in there when the explosion happened made his skin prickle.

The property looked completely unlike anything Lucas had been expecting. Off to one side was wedged a house that was by no means shabby. But he had expected blatant opulence from a bookie, something that conveyed all his wealth for the world to see and appreciate. Instead, the place looked more like someone had dropped a suburban home on the edge of an abandoned warehouse district. He found himself wondering exactly what kind of a bookie this guy was as they were lead between half a dozen of the bare metal warehouses. The teams were met by a small group of guards as they came to a stop and piled out of the vehicles. With few words exchanged, they beckoned them to follow. The guards said the bookie was named Larry.

"I thought you said this guy was a bookie?" Lucas whispered to Tony as they made their way through the warehouses.

"He is," Tony insisted. Lucas gave him a look that said he knew that whoever Larry was he was not just a bookie.

"Alright he's a bookie and he does some trading under the table." Tony explained vaguely. Lucas cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Trading? I don't think he has stocks stored in those warehouses Tony." Lucas pressed. Tony looked slightly uncomfortable and nudged himself closer to Lucas before answering.

"I never said he traded stocks. He trades anything, everything. You name it he has it or can get it." Tony mumbled. Lucas would have pointed out that Lt. Benjamin Krieg would have loved him but he never got the chance.

Lucas heard Alex before he saw her. They had just stopped outside the last warehouse in the procession and it was obvious this was the one Alex was in. Her voice resounded through the metal walls. Lucas silently fumed that the man had hidden Alex in what amounted to a metal box. Larry, it turned out, could give even Tony a run for his money when it came to being annoying.

"We've been in here for twelve hours. How many times do I have to tell you that we need rest, food and some peace and quiet?" Alex spat in anger. The men who had acted as their escort seemed hesitant to open the door. Either Larry was easy to anger or they were afraid Alex was going to throw the first thing she saw at them. Knowing Alex, Lucas wouldn't have put it past her having already done so.

"Well, I got you the cooler you asked for. Though I have no idea why you would want to keep tubes of protoplasm. Wouldn't you rather have gold and jewels?" said a male voice with a heavy Brooklyn accent. Lucas assumed it must be Larry. Commander Ford and Brody seemed to be waiting for the men to open the door on their own. Lucas had to stand by and wait. He had promised to do as he was told. Alex could be heard heaving a rough and annoyed sigh.

"It's not protoplasm, it's stem cells. They are rather important to research I'm doing and no I don't want gold and jewels from the likes of you," she hissed.

"Well then how about that date? Your friend here seems more than a little reluctant. But surely a woman of your intelligence and training can appreciate a man like me?" Larry said in what he must have thought was a seductive tone. All it did was infuriate Lucas. It enraged Alex.

"One more time. She isn't reluctant, she's terrified and she may need medical attention. I have a boyfriend. I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole if you were drowning. Do I make myself clear?" she said her voice rising to a near yell at the end. Despite his earlier misgivings, her words caused a cave man like urge to thump his chest in pride and arrogance. Mine! It proclaimed. He beat the inclination down and pretended he was the civilized human being he looked like he was.

Commander Ford arched an eyebrow and motioned for the men to lift the rollback door before things could get worse. They hesitated a moment or two more before doing as they were asked. They all skittered away from the door like startled mice as soon as it was up. It wasn't Larry they were afraid of.

As soon as the door had cleared Alex's line of vision, she threw a PVC pipe through it. The teams ducked to miss it. She didn't even attempt to look apologetic, she was too frazzled to care at this point and it took her a moment to realize the darkened figures outside the door were friends.

"Should we come back later?" Brody joked without missing a beat. Recognition dawned on her face and she looked like she might throw herself at them in relief.

"Oh thank god!" she breathed snatching up the cooler at her feet and shouldering past the bookie, immersing herself into the group. Sam had her head balanced on her knees; she was very nearly asleep where she sat. Alex threw her arms around Lucas and held on for all she was worth. The teams stood there eying Larry. Larry looked every inch the stereotypical bookie. From slicked back hair and a red suit to the silver topped cane at his side. Lucas didn't think he carried it out of need. Tony threaded his way forward and gently helped Sam to her feet, casting cross glances at Larry the whole way.

"So Tony you're the boyfriend I assume?" Larry queried in as arrogant a tone as he could muster. Commander Ford started to say something but Lucas beat him to it. Breaking the embrace with Alex and stepping forward with his arm firmly around her waist.

"No I am. You have a problem with that?" he shot glaring at the man. Larry smiled and laughed.

"You? Oh you must be kidding," he insulted.

"You know what..." Alex started, lurching forward as if she meant to strangle him. Commander Ford caught her before she could.

"Wait a minute. What are you doing?" he asked calmly. Alex shot him an angry look.

"First I'm going to kill him. Then I'm going to kill Tony!" she growled. Tony turned a startled glance on her as he led Sam into the throng.

"What'd I do?" he asked innocently. Alex narrowed her eyes but stepped back.

"You sent me here that's what!" she accused crossing her arms and looking rather indignant. As much as Lucas was trying to be supportive, he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. She looked like a ragamuffin standing there, mad as hornet, her hair in disarray and smudged with dirt. If the gash on her cheek hadn't held testimony that this was a serious situation he thought he might have laughed.

It reminded him of the first time he had ever met her. Until that argument, he hadn't even known who she was. She had been raving at an acquaintance of his, Charles Harker, in one of the college cafeterias after Charles had finally managed to poke and prod her until she snapped. Specifically Charles had been giving her a hard time about being an alleged trust fund baby. The resulting argument and Lucas's defense of Charles's side of it had ended in her scathingly insulting not only him and Charles but hitting Charles so hard with her food tray he had a black eye for a week afterward.

Lucas had discovered later that he didn't know the whole story and that Charles had a mean streak in him he hadn't known he had. The trust fund baby remark had come on the heels of her parents' deaths. He had sought her out to apologize for stepping into the whole fiasco without knowing what was really going on. That apology and his offer to tutor her in math, when he saw her try the same problem four times and still get it wrong during his awkward apology, had been the beginning of their friendship.

As it was, she saw the grin and shot daggers at him, frowning deeply. He quickly wiped the grin off his face and deigned to look serious. She still glared at him.

"We've been in this tin box since we got here with no food, no medical care, no rest and a constant stream of bad pick up lines! Sam is nearly catatonic. She has never had to deal with this kind of situation before. And he has got to be the most annoying human being to ever walk the Earth!" Alex shot pointing at Larry in case anyone needed to be reminded. Larry tried to look like he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Alright. I think we've all had a long night. Let's all get back to the boat and get some rest," Commander Ford said.

He seemed to be the only voice of reason in the group. Brody was too busy trying not to break into outright laughter at the exchange going on. They all turned as one to head back out the door. Larry's men were as far away from the door as they could get and still see in. Larry stepped forward blocking their path.

"I wouldn't if I were you. The men they were running from are still out there. They have taken up position on one of the roofs adjacent to my property. They've been trying to pick her and her friend off every time they show their faces. It's why they're in here and not in the house. No one has been able to get close enough to shoot back," he warned, the simpering playboy persona dropping away. Ford and Brody exchanged a glance of concern.

"There's not much in the way of cover out there between the warehouses Commander. We'll be easy targets," Brody observed. Any pretense of joking around evaporated like smoke. Ford thought about it for a moment before responding.

"There's no way you can snipe them off the roof from here is there? And no way for you to get close enough without being seen," He said. It was as much a question as a statement. Brody shook his head.

"No sir, too much open, flat ground between here and there," he confirmed. Ford sighed softly in resignation.

"Then that means we're going to have to make a run for it. Take cover behind the warehouses when we can and hope we make it," he said. Brody nodded curtly in response.

"Alright, team one you're going to keep a shield around Alex, her friend here and Lucas. Tony I want you shooting cover fire from the inside if you can. Team two you'll be shooting cover fire too. Keep these guys from getting hit. Understood?" he barked, his voice dropping an octave. There were nods all around.

Ford pulled off his pulse bolt vest and handed it to Tony. Brody followed suit, shrugging off his own and moved to help Alex get into it. Tony was helping a mute Sam into Ford's. Either she was too tired and worn to bother speaking or she was so terrified she couldn't speak. Lucas wasn't sure which it was.

He was too focused on the situation at hand to take offense that Brody had his hands all over his girlfriend in very suggestive places. Brody might as well have been dressing a clothing dummy for all the response he showed. When it came down to the nitty gritty he was every inch the soldier. He leaned in and whispered something in her ear then squeezed her shoulder in a reassuring manner before he stepped away. Alex smiled and chuckled wanly. Lucas took her hand in his and pulled her to him.

"What was that?" he asked. Despite himself Brody whispering in his girlfriend's ear had riled him just a little bit. Alex smiled weakly at him, those forced nervous smiles she always used when she was scared out of her wits.

"He promised he wouldn't let me get shot. I still owe him fifty dollars from our last pool game," she muttered. Lucas gave her an encouraging smile back but he kept his fingers twined in hers.

Tony had his arm around Sam's waist. It looked like he was holding her up as much as he was keeping her from fainting. This had apparently become more than she could handle. At the rate she was going he would have to carry her out of here in a fireman's carry. The teams took up their positions and Brody looked to Ford for the go-ahead. At his nod Brody kicked his gun up to full power and crept to the doorway.

"Okay boys and girls time to go. Double time people!" he ordered just as he turned and dashed into the open, firing in the direction of the adjacent roofing to keep Alex's and Sam's pursuers undercover. Lucas kept Alex as much behind him as he could; they ran hand in hand like stampeded livestock.

At first, their plan seemed to be working and they dashed from one warehouse to another with little more than a lot of panting and pounding feet. But the henchmen got bold or desperate because the next time they broke cover the return shots started. The officers fired back trying to force them back into cover but they refused to be swayed and it became a race for cover and a prayer that they didn't get shot.

Brody got hit ensuring that Alex and Sam stayed as far out of range as possible just as they reached the next to last warehouse, going down in a tumble. He managed to roll away from the group to prevent tripping any of them. Ford grabbed him by the back of his shirt, hauling him up and behind the cover of the warehouse. Luckily the bolt had only hit him in the arm, painful but easily treated once they got back to the ship.

They made the dash behind the final warehouse with no problems. All the enemies' shots flew wide, missing them by yards. Now they just had to make it to the vehicles and get inside them. They all paused to catch their breath before they attempted it. Tony was covered in sweat. He was doing most of Sam's running for her. She just couldn't keep up under these conditions.

Everyone took one long deep breath as they dashed for the Humvees. They almost made it but one of the henchmen got off a lucky shot that nearly took Alex down. Lucas saw it in barely enough time and jerked her out of the line of fire. The momentum of it sent them both to the ground in a tangled heap. They scrambled on hands and knees for cover, Alex dragging the cooler along beside her. Someone, Lucas couldn't be sure who, grabbed them by their shirt collars and hauled them up on their feet again and they ran for all they were worth.

They finally made it into the vehicle and there was momentary chaos as Brody and Commander Ford made sure they had everyone. Once they were sure no one was being left behind Ford took the steering wheel of the lead vehicle and floored it. Pulse bolt fire pinging off the exterior of the vehicles in neon green ricochets as they made their escape.

"You know something? In college, they said being a biomedical engineer was a relatively safe and secure career choice. Someone needs to tell them they were wrong!" Alex prattled as they disappeared into the darkness.


	10. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The ride back to _seaQuest_ was uneventful. So much so that once they had cleared the tailing fire barrage, the roads had been dark and quiet. The trip back didn't take any longer than the trip to it had, but Alex had curled up to Lucas's side, nestled her head on his shoulder and fallen asleep within a block of being told they were safe. He didn't have the heart to wake her so he had put his arm around her and held her there as she slept. Just happy to have her safe and sound in his arms again.

Tony however hadn't had much choice. Lucas couldn't decide if he was enjoying his stint as a human pillow or if he was too unnerved to know what to do. Sam had all but crawled into his lap and fell asleep the moment they had gotten settled in the vehicle. She still hadn't spoken a word.

Brody and Ford hadn't said anything the entire trip. Either they were silent because they knew Alex and Sam had fallen asleep or they were too tired themselves to be up for small talk. Either way the trip home was a blessedly quiet one. Explanations could wait until they were all back on board the boat.

When they finally came to a stop Lucas gently roused Alex and everyone clambered out of the vehicles. All but Sam. Tony was forced to carry her like a child into the boat with Ford's help navigating the precarious ladders down into the ship. She hadn't bothered to wake when they tried to rouse her.

They trudged their way to the medical bay and were met by Dr. Smith and Captain Bridger. Most of the team members save Brody, Ford, Tony, Sam, Alex and himself had disbanded as soon as they came aboard with the captain's permission. Now Lucas and Alex made themselves comfortable on a nearby bed as Sam was tucked into one of her own and Brody found himself one. Dr. Smith didn't bother with pleasantries upon seeing them she tackled them in order of medical need. Which meant Brody was treated first. With the medical bay more or less empty Bridger felt like he could interject while their injuries were seen to.

"Now then what exactly is going on?" he asked, his voice serious but sympathetic.

Alex raised her head up off Lucas's shoulder where she had been resting it and blinked at Nathan a moment before she could gather her wits. Dr. Smith was busy tending Brody's wounds with the pulse burn treatment she and Alex had perfected the last time Alex had ended up on the _seaQuest_ in the middle of a crisis. But she obviously had an ear turned to the conversation.

"Oh right. Uh, well, yesterday... No, now it's the day before yesterday, we got a shipment of stem cells just like we always do. Except this time, they shipped two units by mistake. One had almost all of the shipping label washed out by coke someone spilled on it," Alex said starting and stopping as she gathered her thoughts. Lucas rubbed her back soothingly as she spoke. She was so tired by now her eyes were nothing but slits in her face.

"The only thing you could still see were the words stem cells. I assumed they had shipped too many in error. Sam checked the boxes over for contamination since one of them had coke spilled all over it. I was going to call the company to see what had gone wrong with the shipment once she was done. That's my research assistant Samantha Collins over there," Alex continued, waving her hand in the direction of the bed Sam was on. She was still sound asleep.

Bridger nodded listening intently. "How did you end up being chased down by henchmen posing as police officers?" he asked.

"I'm getting to that," Alex insisted rather sharply. Lucas grinned at her. Alex had a habit of developing an exceedingly short temper when she was extremely tired. Bridger seemed to take it in stride though he controlled the knowing grin that threatened at the corners of his mouth. To be honest she looked and sounded a little drunk from the lack of sleep.

"Anyway, when she was checking them she noticed they acted oddly. I checked it myself to be sure and they were. Stayed up most of the night trying to figure out what it was they were doing and why. I finally gave up and decided to try again in the morning. By the time I got to the lab, the henchmen had shown up and had Sam held hostage. It was the stem cells or us. We managed to get away and you know the rest," she rattled on.

"So that's where you were at two in the morning. I should have known," Lucas joked. Dr. Smith excused Brody as she finished dressing his wound and moved to Sam. Brody opted to stay and made himself more comfortable on his bed listening to the conversation. Ford and Tony stood by silently listening to the tale; they knew Bridger would garner any information he could from Alex.

"What do you mean they acted oddly?" Nathan prodded. Alex sighed in resignation. Lucas knew it wasn't that she didn't take the situation seriously it was because she was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open.

"They attacked the normal stem cells. They began multiplying, invading and changing them. I never got far enough to know why they were doing it or what caused it," she told him and followed it with a skull-splitting yawn. Nathan patted her shoulder warmly. He knew blatant exhaustion when he saw it.

"Stem cells don't do that," Wendy observed as she scanned the unconscious girl frowning slightly as she did. Lucas wasn't sure if she frowned because of what Alex had said or because she didn't like what the scans were showing.

"Yeah well these do. I would have run a complete panel on the samples but I never had the time. Even with the most advanced equipment out there, it would take the better part of a day to analyze it at least. I managed to save some of it when we ran. The original sample I tested and a few others. They're in the cooler I brought in with me," she explained. Dr. Smith finished her initial exam of Sam, began hooking up an IV of saline fluid to stave off any pending dehydration, and attached vital monitors to her.

"I could start the analysis for you. By the time you wake up it will have gotten further than if we wait until you have had enough sleep to think coherently," Wendy suggested lightly. Alex yawned again despite her best efforts not to.

"Fine by me. I feel like I'm about to drop. Anybody got any food around here? I haven't eaten since the night before last," Alex said dismissively. Right now Dr. Smith could have dumped the vials over her head and danced the hula for all she cared. She just wanted sleep, a shower and food.

Wendy finished her treatment of Sam with a good dose of medication via hypo-spray and moved to tend Alex.

"Well, I don't think we are going to get anything else useful done tonight. Why don't we all get some sleep and pick this up later? I'll have someone bring food to your quarters Alex. You'll be right where you were before. I assume you'll be going with her Lucas?" Nathan reasoned. Lucas let his eyes slide away in embarrassment. He hadn't expected the Captain be so forward.

"Uh, yes Captain." he answered softly.

"Is Sam alright Wendy?" Alex interjected before Lucas could make a complete fool of himself. Dr. Smith nodded.

"Yes she'll be fine I think. She just hasn't had the experience you have with life and death situations. It's taken it out of her. She's as exhausted as I've ever seen a person but a good night's rest, a good breakfast, a shower, a good dose of sedatives and she should be fine by morning." she told her with a smile. Alex hissed in pain as Wendy cleaned the gash on her cheek with antiseptic.

"Thank god. I was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong. She's been like that since not too long after we escaped the explosion." Alex replied.

"Stress can do that to a person. You weren't exactly Miss Sunshine the first time you dealt with something like this either." Dr. Smith responded. Alex chuckled at her but Wendy held her head still so she could apply salve and close the gash with butterfly bandages.

"Touché'" she assented.

"Though I admit she does seem a bit too far stressed by all this. There are people who just cannot handle stress well. But reading her I don't think she would be this bad. The scans I ran don't indicate anything is wrong and nothing feels wrong. It's probably just lack of food and rest on top of the stress." Dr. Smith added, that frown tugging at her mouth again.

"You don't think that's all there is to it?" Alex prodded as Wendy collected the discarded bandage wrappers and disposed of them.

"Honestly, I don't know. I could be wrong. But she seems to be perfectly healthy. I just don't get the feeling she would become catatonic from this. Scared yes but this just seems a little much." Wendy replied softly. Alex quirked her eyebrows slightly.

"I don't either. Sam's not the type. Rave, complain and freak out. Sure, those seem like things she might do but then again we don't really know how we'll react to a situation until we face it do we?" Alex observed. Wendy nodded in agreement but the look on both their faces said they still doubted it.

"If Wendy says she thinks Sam will be fine, you two should go get some rest. You especially Alex. You look like hell." Bridger told her. Musing when half the people in the room could barely stay awake was getting them nowhere. Alex shot him a glance and he smiled innocently at her.

"Oh thanks. Why is it every time I step foot outside this boat, underwater or above it, someone is always trying to kill me?" she retorted.


	11. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Lucas had resisted the urge to jump on Alex's comment from the night before as a perfect chance to make his point that if she would just stay on the ship maybe she wouldn't have to worry about someone trying to kill her. Things were tense enough as it was, his plans might be ruined by it and they had both been too tired to think straight.

Instead, they had stumbled like blind mice in a maze through the corridors, managed sketchy showers, eaten the food they had found waiting in Alex's guest quarters and crawled into the bed to sleep like the dead. Lucas couldn't remember what it was they had eaten he had been so tired.

He had felt some of his fears abate when Alex wrapped herself around him much the same way she had that first night they had spent in these same quarters. Something she had said as they laid down had rung in his head before he had drifted off. "You're my safest place to hide."

**#**#**

By the time they woke it was already mid-afternoon. No one had bothered to wake them. Lucas assumed Captain Bridger had probably ordered them undisturbed considering the events of last night. Beside him Alex stretched languidly and gave him a sleepy smile.

Apparently, at some point during the night, he must have gotten clothing from his room, though he couldn't remember it, because Alex was wearing one of his oversized t-shirts as a night gown. Something about her wearing his clothes just made him feel insanely proud. Somehow, it seemed to bolster the feeling that she was his, silly as it might seem.

"God, it's good to have gotten some sleep. I felt like a walking zombie," Alex yawned. Lucas chuckled as the communication system beeped at them. They both crawled out of bed to answer the call with some reluctance. It was a voice only communication from O'Neill.

"Yeah?" Lucas asked as they both listened.

"Captain Bridger wants you to meet him in the ward room as soon as possible. Dr. Smith said to tell you Sam is up and doing well Alex. And Alex..." Tim relayed pausing uncertainly at the end of his message.

"Welcome back. Glad you made it out alright," he finished almost shyly. Alex's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. She and Lt. O'Neill hadn't exactly started out on the best of terms. The last time she had a meaningful conversation with him they had been arguing over whose taste in movies was more vapid and ended it with them insulting one another.

"Thank you Tim," she said back genuine surprise in her voice.

"Tell the Captain we'll be right there." Lucas told him and Tim clicked off the message.

**#**#**

Lucas had managed to round up a set of Alex's own clothes from his quarters before they made their way to the ward room. Things she had left behind the one time she had been back on the _seaQuest_ for a visit during a consultation for a mission. But the delay to fetch them made their arrival to the ward room take a bit longer than they thought it would.

Everyone Bridger thought should be privy to this conversation were already seated around the table, including Sam dressed in a blue _seaQuest_ jumpsuit. The rest of those in attendance included Commander Ford, Dr. Smith, Lt. O'Neill, Lt. Henderson, Tony, Miguel and Lt. Brody. Knowing that he hadn't given them and probably anyone else present the chance to grab a meal Nathan had arranged for breakfast to be brought to them. The table was piled with trays of donuts and bagels, a hot steaming pot of coffee between them. The World Net News blared from the vidscreen opposite the table and everyone had their eyes glued to it. Bridger waved Lucas and Alex in as they found seats among the crew wondering what exactly was going on. Lucas noticed Alex cast several concerned glances in Sam's direction.

Sam might be up and about but she looked exceedingly pale and worn despite the forced smile she gave them both. She sat with an air of exhaustion still and Lucas wondered if this was normal for her. From the looks Alex kept giving her, he didn't think it was.

"Seems you've made the news again Alex." Bridger pointed out gesturing at the screen. Alex turned her attention to the video playing and winced at the words on the ticker scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

"Yeah seems you are going to adopt all the children rescued from Sanborn's facility. A regular Angelina Jolie." Tony quipped from his chair as he stuffed his mouth full of donut. Lucas rolled his eyes. Was this really the best journalists could do? Had the spread of news and vital information become so mundane they had to resort to hooks to get ratings?

"Where do you come up with all these pop culture references Tony? I don't know maybe someone should tell me before the news channels decide what it is I'm doing with my life." Alex complained frowning. She sighed at the screen with a disgusted shake of her head.

"The news isn't what it used to be I'll give you that. But that's not why Captain Bridger pointed it out. Listen." Ford interjected pouring her a cup of coffee and sliding it across the table to her. Lucas snagged the pot next and they sat back listening to the reporter drone on.

"BioSynTech, the lab of Alexandria Northman, was found ransacked late last night. Signs of a struggle were apparent and there has been no sign of Ms. Northman or her colleague Samantha Collins. Authorities have yet to release a statement concerning this event but the UEO did say that they are investigating. They have declined further comment. Eyewitnesses say they saw both Ms. Northman and Ms. Collins running from the building pursued by two police officers yesterday afternoon. A fire fight ensued but there has been no word on what might have prompted the violence," the dark haired woman on screen relayed in her best orator's voice.

"In further news there have been a slew of unexplained deaths over the last twenty four hours. Two deliverymen, George White and Bill Thomas, were found dead in their vehicle not far from the scene of Ms. Northman's disappearance. Both men worked for Gen-Med Industries, a medical research and supply company. The company has refused comment on the matter and the victims' families could not be reached for comment. Both men died of blunt trauma to the head," the reporter went on, her expression robotic and emotionless. Alex nearly choked on her coffee and Lucas completely forgot his. Everyone else was watching their expressions as much as the screen. They had already seen the report apparently.

"It's not done. Keep watching," Bridger pointed out as the reporter paused before moving on with her speech.

"Additionally, two police officers' bodies were found dumped into a nearby canal not ten miles from the location of BioSynTech. They had been stripped of their clothing and weapons and their vehicle stolen. Both died of pulse gun wounds. The New Cape Quest Police Department is refusing comment or to reveal the officers' names at this time. They say they do not wish to release anything until they have completed their investigation," the reporter kept right on going. Lucas briefly wondered if they had scripted this before she started saying it or if she was winging it. The woman barely paused for breath.

"Given the proximity and nature of these crimes, it isn't hard to believe they are somehow connected. All parties involved refused to comment on the possibility. We will keep you informed of any breaking news. It seems Alexandria Northman has gotten herself into another messy situation. Adoption attorneys and local child protection agencies might want to take Ms. Northman's penchant for landing in death defying situations into consideration before giving her custody of minor children who have already experienced enough violence to last a lifetime. It cannot be ignored that two officers were seen chasing Ms. Northman and Ms. Collins shortly before the bodies of the two murdered officers were discovered. We have not been able to confirm that these officers are one and the same but evidence would seem to suggest that it is a large possibility. Perhaps Ms. Northman has suffered more effects from her stint under the tyranny of Dr. Ryan Sanborn than previously thought. This is Nicole Sanders for World Net News. Back to you Jack," the reporter finished.

Alex looked like she felt a little green but the expression was mixed with one of complete annoyance and hatred. The reporter had just had to get in that last little bit of nonsense. She just couldn't have stuck to the real story. The reporter had all but out right accused Alex and Sam with, at the very least, being accomplices to murder. If not the actual killers without so much as a kernel of truth to back it up. Sam looked a bit green herself, though the annoyed expression was absent from her face and she offered no comment.

"Well that explains where they got the police uniforms and how they knew where the stem cells had gone to." Alex observed through clenched teeth as Bridger clicked off the vidscreen.

"Yes it does. The problem is the men who came after you are still out there. They are going to tell whoever they work for. Whoever it is isn't above just killing anyone that gets in their way. They don't want something about those stem cells discovered and if they can pin the murders of those officers and those delivery men on you two all the better," Brody voiced from his end of the table. Ford and Bridger both nodded in agreement with him.

"Thanks that makes me feel so much better Jim." Alex hissed under her breath. Brody had the presence of mind not to take it personally.

"I've been running those samples you brought in through our analyzer and it's going far slower than you thought it would Alex. I'm getting back readings that make no sense. DNA counts that are off the charts. But only on the one you marked as behaving strangely. The others all read oddly as well, with cell structures that just aren't normal. They are just as you said, too perfect. But we won't know anything else for at least ten hours, whatever is going on with these stem cells has the analyzer completely confused," Wendy added, her face formed into a carefully emotionless facade. Lucas wondered at it. Dr. Smith was usually far more animated.

"In the meantime, we know where Alex got the samples from. I think we need to find out where Gen-Med got them. Lucas, I want you to see if you can back track where that shipment came from. Alex and Wendy, you two need to work on finding out exactly what it is we're dealing with. I'm going to see if the UEO has any ideas and try to head these veiled accusations off before they can grow out of control. Commander, move us out of dock. I have the feeling who ever came looking for Alex before isn't going to stop. I'd like to make that as difficult as possible for them," Bridger ordered.

He had obviously already thought this out and with no better ideas; no one felt the need to offer any other solutions. With curt nods all around everyone rose from their seats, some snagging a bagel or donut to take with them and began meandered out of the room. Sam hung back as if she wasn't quite sure what to do or where to go.

"Tony, if you would please see Samantha back to the medical bay. Dr. Smith will be along shortly," Nathan requested before he could make it out the door.

"Yes sir," Tony answered though he looked confused as he gently prodded Sam to go with him. Alex looked as if she might protest and the pleading look on Sam's face to not be shuttled off with people she didn't know rang all too familiar a bell.

"Alex, I'd like to speak with you. Lucas you can stay if you like," Bridger said, Wendy was still seated firmly in her chair. Her expression one of worry and concern now.


	12. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Alex took her seat again looking between Wendy and Nathan confused and just a little angered. As far as she was concerned, the captain was verging on treating Sam as a prisoner not an innocent pulled into something she had no control over. Lucas did too. Something was up, with everyone but the four of them in the room, the muted lighting and the imposing table between them conspired to give Alex and Lucas the feeling of something ominous hanging in the air like morning fog.

"What's going on Captain?" Lucas asked a beat before Alex could ask the same question. Bridger filled himself a cup of coffee and offered the pot to anyone who would like a refill of their own before sitting down across from them next to Wendy. Lucas waved him off politely and Alex was too focused on Bridger to accept one way or another.

"Well, Sam woke up a few hours ago. Wendy says she seems to be fine from a medical standpoint but she seems to be acting very odd. Since Wendy can't give me any explanation, I wanted to ask you if this is normal behavior for her," he replied looking directly at Alex.

"I don't know if I can or not. I thought we discussed this last night and you thought things were fine. What do you mean by odd?" Alex asked truly confused. Nathan looked at Wendy for an answer.

"I did but this just goes a little beyond fear induced catatonia. When she woke up, she seemed fine. But about an hour later, after I had run all the scans I thought were necessary and not one of them showed anything abnormal and I couldn't feel anything out of place from her, she suddenly changed personalities. At first she had been rather subdued, almost frightened and then she went into a yelling rage over her breakfast not being what she wanted. As quickly as she'd done it she was back to being subdued again. She didn't seem to even register what she had done," Wendy explained. Alex's eyebrows had risen steadily through it all and the look on her face told all of them that this was not something she would have expected from Samantha.

"No, that's not normal for her. I guess it could just be the stress. Sam is about as laid back and easy going as they come under normal circumstances," she said her look of confusion sliding into one of deep concern.

"I'm sure whatever it is Dr. Smith can figure it out," Lucas said squeezing her shoulder reassuringly.

"I wish I could agree with you Lucas. But nothing I've done has given me any reason to think there is anything wrong with her. It could just be the stress, post-traumatic stress manifests differently in different people but I can't read anything that suggests that from her. It was more like she was two different people for that one second. If I wasn't an empath I probably would have written it off as stress too," Wendy corrected him gently.

"Maybe if I talk to her. She's probably scared out of her mind," Alex reasoned. Nathan nodded in agreement with her before he spoke.

"Maybe, but I have to ask this. How long have you known her? Do you think there is any chance she could be involved in this somehow? I don't honestly think she has anything to do with it but I can't take that chance," he said as kindly as he could. Alex shook her head emphatically.

"No. I've worked with her for six months. There is no way she would be involved in this. Her psych profile is on file with the UEO, her security clearance is one below mine. Check for yourself. There's no way, that's just not the kind of person Sam is," Alex insisted. Bridger held his hands up in surrender.

"Alright, I just want to be sure. Something about all this just doesn't sit right with me and I want to make sure I've got all our bases covered. I have to make sure her behavior isn't a clever cover for her involvement," he confessed.

"I have the feeling you're right. Something isn't right even given the circumstances. But Sam has nothing to do with it. I'm certain of that," Alex admitted.

"I have the same feeling," Wendy agreed with a deep sigh.

"The question is what is it...or who?" Lucas voiced. Every head in the room looked at him; he had summed it up for them all.

"That, Lucas is the million dollar question," Bridger said.

**#**#**

As soon as they exited the ward room Alex made a bee line for the medical bay, moving at something just under an outright run. Lucas actually had to trot to keep up with her for a change. Her face was set in a muddled expression of worry, concern, anger and a determination to find out exactly what was going on and why.

"Going to see Samantha?" he said voicing the obvious to break the silence as they headed for the nearest maglev entrance.

"Yes. I want to make sure she's alright. She looked like a frightened kitten stuck in a storm drain earlier. I also want to find out who is doing this and why and I want to know now. I've had it up to here with people assuming they can just waltz all over whomever they please," she spat, one hand marking the height of up to here at the top of her skull.

"They do whatever they want without any regard for the lives they affect!" she growled her near run slowing to an angry stalk. Lucas's eyes widened, he hadn't expected that vehement an outburst from her. He reached out and caught her arm, bringing her to a halt.

"Is this about Sam or you Alex? You seem just a little more bent out of shape about this than I expected," he asked, locking blue eyes with green ones, daring her to deny what he suspected to be true. She looked down and away briefly before responding with a sigh.

"No... Yes... I don't know. Yes it's about her and yes it's about me. I'm tired of it Lucas. Tired of being the one who ends up thrown into the middle of whatever crisis someone else manages to create and watching it tear my life in two. Tired of watching others be drug into it with me. Tired of being the reason people can't just go about their normal lives. Tired of being the reason someone else's life is torn in two," she admitted with a tone that spoke volumes. It sounded exhausted. Not physically exhausted but tired of picking up the pieces of a broken life again and again.

Lucas's eyes softened and he squeezed her arms reassuringly, lowering his stance so his eyes were looking directly into hers rather than down into them.

"You didn't ask for this. It's not your fault you've ended up in the middle of all this. Whatever is going on we'll figure it out. We always do. We got through Sanborn together; we'll get through this together. Me, the captain, the whole crew, we're here for you. You aren't alone in this. And if things get torn apart along the way we'll just put the pieces back together again." he told her. She rolled her eyes in frustration.

"That's the point Lucas. I shouldn't have to have other people putting my life back together for me. That's my job. I cannot pull other people down with me every time I end up in another mess. When I let that happen I just do to them the same thing that's been done to me." she explained. Lucas shook his head at her in disbelief.

"You'd do it for me wouldn't you? You'd do it for any of your friends. I know you would." he insisted and for a moment her expression faltered.

"I... Of course I would for you Lucas. That's not what I mean...I don't have any friends. It wouldn't be fair to them, it's not fair to you." she blurted before her brain could still her tongue. From the mortified expression that crossed her face he knew she had said more than she had intended.

"Fair to me? What are you talking about? You have more friends than you think Alex," he started to reason with her but she cut him off abruptly.

"Can we just... can we talk about this later? We have more important problems right now," she pleaded.

"Alex..." he protested, feeling like he was on the brink of winning that battle he'd been fighting for a year and half or at least finding out why he hadn't been able to win it to begin with. She set her mouth in a taut line and he knew he'd lost this round.

"Just drop it. Please?" she insisted her voice softer and more forgiving than he had thought it would be. Her eyes flickered away as if she were afraid to meet his gaze. On an impulse, he turned her head back to face him with one finger under her chin.

"Sweetheart..." he tried again. She just shook her head gently.

"No, Lucas." she reaffirmed sadly and without giving him time to formulate a rebuke she turned and walked down the corridor into the maglev as if the conversation had never happened. Leaving him to catch up or be left behind.


	13. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

They traveled in silence the rest of the way to the medical bay. Lucas had started to press the point and try to garner some sense from the whole thing but every time he had left the words unspoken unsure if it would help or just make things worse. Alex had resolutely refused to look him squarely in the face the entire way, as if she were afraid her resolve would break if she did.

He had a feeling there was a great deal she had left unsaid, a great deal she should say. He couldn't understand why, yet again, she was bottling whatever it was inside instead of just talking. After all wasn't he her best friend and lover? If she couldn't confide in him who could she confide in? Why didn't she? What was stopping her? Didn't she trust him? Was this why she had been keeping her distance refusing to honor the promise she had made on that beach a year and a half ago? Her promise that she would come back to the _seaQuest_ permanently?

His emotions flip flopped between despair that she either couldn't or wouldn't talk to him and anger that she was being as stubborn as ever. Didn't she understand, even now, that it was okay to lean on someone, especially him? Didn't she understand it was his job to catch her when she fell? Just like it was hers to catch him when he did? Did she not understand that sooner or later she would be the one picking him up the same way he had her? That she already had more than once in the past? Absently he fingered the small object in his pants pocket and wondered if he had been wrong all along.

With a whoosh of air, the maglev doors slide open and he was forced to stow his rambling thoughts for another time. First, they had to check on Samantha and then he had work to do. Personal relationships and convoluted romantic entanglements would have to wait. In awkward silence, they exited the maglev and entered the medical bay.

Even if he had tried to continue his train of thought the red haired streak that zipped past him and nearly tackled Alex would have kept him from being able to. With a gasp of relief, Samantha threw herself into Alex's arms. Alex was forced either to accept the gesture or risk being toppled to the floor.

"I'm glad to see you too," Alex managed to chuckle weakly through the tight embrace a startled grin creeping over her features, replacing the one of avoidance.

"I can't believe we're alive. I just knew when the car exploded we were dead. Then I was just ...I don't know what I was. I can't really remember anything after the explosion until I woke up here. I was just in a haze and then that news report," Sam rambled, completely oblivious to Lucas's presence and apparently with no desire to release Alex anytime soon.

"I didn't realize you were so affectionate," Alex inserted jokingly into the stream of words. Sam seemed taken aback by the statement, stepping away and ceasing contact as if she'd only now realized she was doing something she shouldn't. It didn't escape Alex's notice and she frowned slightly.

"Sam are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm just glad to be alive. That's all. Can't a person be enthusiastic about that?" Sam muttered sharply her brow furrowing and mouth twisting for a brief moment. Then it was gone.

Her eyes fell on Lucas, a generous smile spread on her face and she stepped toward him hand out stretched. Lucas returned the smile and shook her hand, though he was careful to keep any trace of confusion out of his expression. He didn't know her and still her behavior seemed off kilter somehow. Just shy of center, like a disconnected wire just barely making enough contact to still work.

"So you're Lucas. You're even more handsome in person. The pictures Alex has of you just do not do you justice," she said with a coy edge to her voice. He wasn't sure if he should be slightly embarrassed, offended or pleased. The flow of the entire conversation was wrong, jumping from one thing to another with no rhyme or reason.

"Am I?" he chuckled, nervously casting a glance over her shoulder at Alex. Alex could only look back wide-eyed and shrug. She was just as confused as he was.

"Yes you are. You know I bet you like red heads and older women. I could ...teach you things you've never dreamed of," she enticed walking the fingers of her free hand up his arm seductively. Lucas dropped her hand like it was a hot iron.

"That's okay. I, uh, think I have that covered," he stammered, looking at Alex for a polite way out of the curve the conversation had taken. It took Alex a moment to even find her voice. She couldn't have looked more shocked if a complete stranger had walked up and slapped her for no reason.

"Samantha, what do you think you're doing?" she growled with barely controlled anger, moving between her and Lucas. It wasn't as if Sam didn't know who and what Lucas was to her. She couldn't help the flare of temper at Sam for what she had just said and done. Sam blinked like she didn't understand the question.

"Nothing. I was just being friendly," she insisted with an innocence that left both Alex and Lucas in disbelief. Alex moved toward her with caution, the same way one would approach a cornered animal. Sam backed away with visible and inexplicable fright. She didn't actually think Alex would hurt her did she?

"I'd appreciate it if you could be a little less friendly with my boyfriend. This isn't like you Sam. Dr. Smith said you were acting a little oddly. I thought it might just be shock and stress from what happened yesterday. Wendy said you were subdued, depressed even but this is just a little bizarre. Where is Dr. Smith? Tony escorted you down here, where is he?" Alex asked with forced calm and very real concern.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? Dr. Smith said she would be right back. Tony had to go back to his post on the bridge," Sam explained the fear sliding away into a look of casual disregard that was so completely out of place it gave Lucas chills. He debated hitting the comm button on the nearby wall and then thought it might be better if he just went and got Wendy himself to save time.

"Alex. I'll go find Wendy," he said thinking that the doctor's assistance was needed now. Sam was jumping between one emotion and the next like a deranged person. Alex nodded without missing a beat and he backed toward the door as nonchalantly as he could.

"Don't you want to stay here with me? Don't you think I'm pretty? I'm prettier than Alex," Sam pleaded with desperation. Her words came out in one rush, too fast and too frantic. Alex started to touch her, to try and move her gently away but she slapped her hand away violently. Alex tried again as he continued moving for the door.

"Sam, I think you should..." Alex started to suggest.

"No! You don't deserve him!" she screamed suddenly causing Alex to step back a pace in surprise. Whatever anger she had felt before, now she felt only fear and concern for Sam. This was more than stress. Whatever it was, it was much worse. Had she suffered a mental breakdown of some kind? Lucas stopped moving toward the door, afraid it might provoke her further

"Sam, please." Alex tried once more but Sam would hear none of it.

"No, no. you listen to me. You don't deserve him! You could be here with him. Instead, you're in your little lab complaining about not being able to see him. He needs a real woman! Not some crazy who tries to kill her research assistant driving like a maniac from psychotic police officers! He needs someone like me! This is your fault all of it!" she railed in fury and snapped. Before anyone could blink, she had leapt at Alex swinging for all she was worth.

Alex ducked barely missing the onslaught and came up grappling to get a hold on one of Sam's flailing limbs. She fought without any thought at all, swinging wildly. Lucas hit the nearest comm button before diving into the fray.

"Emergency in med bay!" he barked into the air and grabbed one of Sam's arms. Alex managed to finally get a grip on the other and together they tried to wrestle her down onto a bed before she actually landed a blow on them or hurt herself.

Dr. Smith came pounding in the door with Captain Bridger on her heels. Both took a split second to figure out what was going on before Nathan wedged himself into the melee to help get Sam under control. Wendy made a mad dash for a hypo spray full of sedative. With a mechanical hiss and a defeated wail everything came to a sudden halt leaving Alex, Lucas and Bridger panting. Dr. Smith looked horrified and confused.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I have no idea. She has been going on almost incoherently since we came in," Alex replied through deep breaths.

"I was just about to come find you when Sam went crazy," Lucas added trying to catch his own breath. Whatever had been motivating Sam had given her far more strength than she had any right to have.

"I think it's a fair bet that she's not acting normal wouldn't you say?" Nathan quipped in all seriousness.

"I don't know what's causing this but whatever it is something is very, very wrong," Wendy observed. Not one of them could disagree.


	14. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The next several hours passed in a blur of activity. Lucas had made tracks for his own quarters to find out where Gen-Med had obtained the stem cells as soon as things seemed to be under control. Alex had stayed behind with Dr. Smith to try and figure out what exactly was wrong with Sam and try making head way with the research into exactly what the stem cells were doing. Bridger had disappeared off to his own quarters to check in with UEO Headquarters. He hoped it would give them some sort of lead into this confused mess they were in.

Lucas sat back in his chair and shoved the keyboard away in frustration. He had managed to find out where Gen-Med had gotten the stem cells, even who. But none of it made the least bit of sense. If they came from the person and location the files claimed they had there was no reason for them to behave so oddly.

It didn't help that some of what Samantha had said still rang in his head. She had said Alex talked about missing him and still wouldn't stay on _seaQuest_ with him? She even talked to Samantha about it but not him? Why? He could not understand it. He shoved the thoughts aside as he so often did before his brain drifted from the task at hand. As soon as he and Alex got a free moment, he fully intended to find out but right now he would just have to wonder.

Deciding to dig deeper he dove back into the miasma of code in front of him, a long drought of soda and a mouthful of candy giving him fuel for his renewed endeavor. If it didn't make sense it was time he pushed a little further and tried to find out why. Maybe the who would give him the answers he needed.

**#**#**

"That can't be right Wendy. It's just not possible." Alex reasoned for the third time in five minutes. She was sitting at one of the lab workstations with a ream of reports in front of her reading along with the doctor and flat refused to believe what she was seeing.

Wendy shrugged and shook her head; at a loss to explain it any better than she already had. It made as much sense to her as it did to Alex.

"It's not probable but it is possible. Unheard of but it is theoretically possible." she insisted. Alex sat down the report she was reading and ran her hands over her face in frustration.

"You don't just become schizophrenic in a matter of a few hours. The UEO would never have cleared her psych profile if she even exhibited the slightest signs of it," Alex rebutted. They had been going over and over reports, tests analysis and scans for hours and they all came to the same conclusion. Sam was perfectly fine physically, but somehow in the course of the last forty-eight hours she had become schizophrenic. The only discrepancy was a small amount of elevated proteins in her blood stream and they didn't seem to indicate anything abnormal except perhaps that Sam might need to change her diet.

"I know it doesn't make any sense. But the tests support it and so do my mental scans of her. She scanned perfectly fine this morning when she woke up and now she's mentally unstable. Stress can trigger it if the predisposition was already there. It's the only thing that remotely makes sense. It's like a maelstrom in there now," Wendy said casting a glance back in the direction of the patient area. Sam still slept, sedated and strapped down to the bed. She had managed to fight off the initial dose of sedatives and Wendy had been forced to increase the dosage and secure her before she managed to hurt herself or someone else.

Alex's gaze followed Wendy's and she let out an agitated and depressed sigh. Between trying to figure out what was wrong with Samantha and figure out what was going on with the stem cells that landed them both here to begin with her temper was growing increasingly short. Everything about Sam's condition made no sense and the limited information the stem cell analysis had yielded so far wasn't any better. It didn't make a bit of sense either.

"So what now? We dose her with anti-psychotics and hope for the best? Implant her with a psych chip? Call her parents and tell them their daughter has lost her mind? None of this makes any sense Wendy. None of it. Her parents aren't schizophrenic and neither are any of her immediate relatives. She has three siblings and not one of them shows any signs of it. Schizophrenia is genetic. You know that, I know that. It runs in families, even if schizophrenia isn't present there are always other members of the immediate family with some sort of mental illness and there's not one," Alex shot back her voice sharp edged from an inability to do anything about what was happening.

"Anti-psychotics, yes, we start her on those until we know anything different. If we don't things will only get worse. We have no choice," Wendy told her, her eyes full of sympathy and concern for the girl on a bed in her medical bay who had suddenly lost her mind for what seemed like no reason.

Alex said nothing but her eyes said everything words didn't. She felt like this was her fault and somehow she had to make it right and couldn't. Before Wendy could confront her about it, tell her there was no way this could be her fault, the comm panel beeped and Captain Bridger's voice echoed into the room

"Wendy, Alex meet me in the Ward Room. Lucas has found some information for us. I hope you have something on your end."

**#**#**

Again, the bridge crew had gathered to hear what Lucas and hopefully Wendy and Alex had to report. Everyone sat around the table of the ward room apprehensively. It hadn't taken long for news of Samantha's psychotic break to make its rounds. With a crew compliment of only two hundred and forty two, news traveled fast on the _seaQuest_.

"Lucas has found some information that might, and I say this with reservation because it makes no sense, give us a lead. Alex, Wendy have you got anything?" Bridger said not bothering to waste time with pleasantries. Wendy nodded her head but the reluctance in her expression was obvious.

"Yes we have something. It just doesn't make any sense either. We know what's wrong with Sam, we just don't know why. She's schizophrenic and we can't find a reasonable explanation for it other than the rather implausible idea that stress has triggered a latent potential for it. I have her on anti-psychotics until we know more but that's all we can do right now," she answered. Bridger leaned forward on the table and considered them both for a moment. Lucas sat by Alex quietly hoping something they said might make what he had found make some sense. Alex looked down trodden and rather hopeless, her eyes diverting anytime he tried to make eye contact.

"Can it be reversed?" Tony asked but Wendy only shook her head.

"I don't know yet. Mental illness can be treated, even controlled, so the person functions normally in most cases. If it's being caused by something else making it a symptom and not the disease, maybe it can be reversed. But we just don't know right now," she answered unable to give him a better answer.

"Have you made any further progress on the stem cells?" Nathan asked grasping for something to make sense. Nothing any of them had come up with so far made any. UEO Headquarters hadn't even been able to shed any light on any of this, though he had at least managed to head off the media spectacle that threatened over Alex's and Sam's alleged involvement in the whole fiasco.

"No not really. The analysis is still going. The machine is working at a snail's pace; it just can't make sense of anything its reading. Until it finishes I can't tell you anything about them that I haven't already. Wendy was right; the DNA counts are off the charts. It's claiming there are ninety two strands of DNA per cell. Human cells are only supposed to contain forty six," Alex put in. Lucas's eyebrows quirked in mild surprise.

"That's twice the number there should be," he observed.

"What would cause that?" Lonnie piped from her seat. Alex shrugged.

"I can't be sure, not until I have the full analysis in front of me. It could be a mutation, a fluke. It could be engineered. I can't say," Alex admitted. Bridger listened closely to every word, his mind working overtime to make sense of it.

"Speculate Alex. You're a scientist. Your specialty is biomedical engineering and genetics. What do you think it most likely is?" Ford put in. Alex shot him an annoyed glance. Ford simply gave her a pointed look in response, unfazed.

"I can't, not without the information I need. I could be wildly off base if I do," she insisted.

"Try. You're thinking too much like a researcher and not enough like someone with a, probably, criminal agenda. If this was just a random mutation do you really think someone would be trying to kill you over it?" Bridger prodded. Alex sighed in resignation.

"Alright. If I had to speculate I'd say that yes it could be a mutation. Even if I had a criminal agenda if the mutation facilitated whatever my plans were I wouldn't want anyone to find out about it. If it is a mutation, there is going to be some imperfection somewhere however minute. On the other hand, if it's engineered and the cells are really as perfect as they seem to be down to the DNA level. I'd say someone is trying to engineer something to facilitate that plan. But I have no idea what that plan could be and I can't even give you an idea until I know for certain what the DNA says."

"There are forty thousand five hundred and ninety genes in the human genome. Do you have any idea how long it's going to take to sequence and analyze that many genes?" she said trying to satisfy Bridger's desire for some sort of logic in all of this. She couldn't blame him she couldn't make sense of it either. None of them could but her inability to fix the whole thing made her shorter than usual. Nathan didn't look happy with her answer.

"Fine so there's what we know on your end. Lucas tell us what you have," he ordered with irritation at the whole ordeal. Lucas cocked his head in assent.

"Well, the stem cells came from Mendel Laboratory and were headed for UEO Headquarters. Which isn't odd since the scientists regularly sends them samples for their own analysis of their work. Mendel Laboratory is a state of the art, underwater research lab on the Koko sea mount, just north of Hawaii. The whole thing is headed up by Dr. Michael Ward, one of the UEO's top scientists. He's been conducting research into gene therapy for the P-Core-A Virus for years as a pet project that the UEO funds to keep him on board despite the fact he hasn't made any progress in over a decade. Apparently his son died of it as a kid and he's been obsessed with finding a cure ever since." Lucas told them. Brody winced in sympathy. If anyone would understand Dr. Ward's obsession he would. His mother lay in cryo-stasis afflicted with the same disease.

"Right now his official project is research into the possible uses of stem cells in the regrowth of spinal cord tissue and he's had some limited success considering he's only been working on it for four months," he added.

"He came up with the vaccine for the Sahelian Virus in 2008. This is not the kind of guy who gets involved in criminal activity. He essentially saved the entire planet when he developed that vaccine," he explained as he keyed through a series of reports and files on the vidscreen to illustrate his point.

"The Sahelian Virus? That virus was so virulent it threatened everyone if it got out of control. It never spread to more than a few hundred people before he developed that vaccine. It's not a good way to die," Ortiz observed. O'Neill looked like he might actually be sick at the thought.

"Oh yeah, hysteria, mania and psychosis because the virus is eating your brain cells. Leading to death by massive brain hemorrhage. It's a real joy ride," he muttered in a low voice.

"It's all just a bad memory now Tim. I don't think there's a human alive who hasn't received the vaccine. It's gone the way of small pox and polio," Wendy offered with a comforting smile.

"Thank God," he agreed but he still looked slightly disturbed by the idea that it could have killed millions even billions and one of those might have been him. Tim had a habit of letting his imagination get the better of him.

"I've read some of Dr. Ward's work. I agree that he's not the type to kill someone over something like this, he saves lives he doesn't take them, but someone under him might. If he doesn't have reason to suspect anyone he might not even know what's going on," Bridger pointed out pacing alongside the table. Everyone tracked his movement as he walked.

"I spoke with Admiral Noyce. Bill said they have no idea why or what is going on. They haven't come up with anything more than we have, in fact they have less information than we do. They haven't been able to identify or find the men who came after you or figure out who they work for but he said he will ensure the public is made aware Alex and Samantha are not the perpetrators of this whole thing. When we have more information maybe we can help each other figure this mess out. Right now, we're heading for Mendel Laboratory to see if we can't get some answers. I think we better keep this under our hats until we know who is responsible. We don't want to tip them off any more than we already have," Nathan reasoned.


	15. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Everyone filtered out of the ward room intent on their new courses of action if they had one. Lucas had been hauled off by Tony and Ortiz without being allowed time to protest and now Alex sat alone at the table her head buried in her hands and sighed softly. She couldn't shake the feeling that her worst fears were coming true. The world seemed to be on the brink of falling down around her again and she was helpless to stop it. Worse, she felt like it was her fault. She had to be cursed, every time she thought things might be under control, like she might be able to get a grip on things, someone snatched the rug out from under her.

"This is my fault," she whispered into the empty room. At least she thought it was empty.

"Now how could it be your fault?" came Bridger's voice from the doorway. Alex's head snapped up at the sound of his voice. He was leaned against the closed door, his arms crossed over his chest contemplating her.

"Oh! Nothing," she muttered too forcefully, trying to play it off but Bridger had lived too long and seen too much. He moved to the table and sat down beside her pouring them both a cup of coffee. Alex began thinking of ways to make a hasty exit without looking like she was trying to run from him.

"Cream and sugar?" he asked holding out the mug. She shook her head and he pressed it into her hand. She took it reluctantly and cast him a nervous look. He smiled at her knowingly.

"Nothing has been my fault more times than I care to count over the years," he observed mildly as he sipped at his own drink. Alex felt herself grin nervously.

"Why do I feel like I've been caught out after curfew by my father?" she chuckled trying to maintain her air of nonchalance. He shrugged and gave her another of his impish grins.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" he whispered conspiratorially as he played along. The grin held for a few more seconds before it dropped away into a look of serious concern.

"Alex, how could any of this be your fault? Seriously? There's more to this I can tell. Care to talk about it?" he prodded gently, watching her face for anything that might give her away despite her best attempts to hide it. If there was one thing Bridger was good at it was reading people. As captain he had to be, sometimes the lives of his entire crew depended on it, at others their personal well-being did. Alex winced in discomfort.

"No I don't actually. Am I that obvious?" she muttered staring into her coffee cup, her reflection in the surface of the dark liquid betraying more than she cared for.

"No. But, I've seen that look in the mirror before. Are you sure?" he insisted. The fact she hadn't asked to leave immediately told him she did want to talk to someone about it even if she wouldn't admit it to herself. Probably to someone not involved in it directly and if that someone was him so be it.

"No I'm not sure. If I had never come out of that coma, if Lucas had never found me, none of this would be happening. Samantha wouldn't be lying on a bed in the medical bay completely insane and none of you would have been pulled into any of this. You could be out there exploring the wondrous fathoms below and not trying to fix the mess I have gotten us all into. It's my fault," she confessed her voice low and strained. Bridger sat back in his chair and gazed at her for a long moment, studying her face. Alex wriggled in her seat feeling as if somehow he was gaining more insight into her psyche by just looking at her than a hundred sessions with a counselor had provided.

"So that's how it is," he said finally as he leaned forward again, propping his elbows on the table and looking her dead in the eye. The intensity of his gaze held her fast; she couldn't have looked away if she wanted to.

"Feeling sorry for yourself?" he asked deliberately provoking her, forcing her to drop her guard by making her angry. Alex blinked twice and her mouth gaped but he kept his eyes locked on hers.

"I beg your pardon?" she babbled incredulously. Bridger spread his hands and arms in an isn't-it-obvious gesture.

"You heard me. You're feeling sorry for yourself," he prodded further. He knew from more than one talk with Lucas that Alex didn't open up on her own, not really. The only way to get her out of that bombproof shell she built around herself was to make her fight her way out of it.

Her eyes narrowed and she leaned forward palms flat on the table her mouth taut. There! He had her right where he wanted her.

"Captain, what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she hissed through clenched teeth. Bridger felt his lips quirk and his eyebrow raise.

"It means Alex, that have you ever considered what would be happening if Lucas hadn't found you?" he asked.

"Exactly what I said, this entire thing wouldn't be happening. No one would be in this mess because of me," she insisted again not seeing the point he was trying to make.

"You're right. It probably wouldn't. Instead, Dr. Sanborn would have succeeded in his plan and we'd all be under mind control, doing whatever he commanded. God knows what the world might be like now if he had. Oh sure, there would be no more crime but we'd all be walking puppets with no free will of our own," he told her. She shook her head violently.

"Someone would have caught him." she insisted. Bridger kept his temper in check. When Lucas had said she was probably the most hard headed and stubborn person he'd ever known he didn't realize he had meant this hard headed.

"No Alex. They wouldn't, not in time. He managed to stay under the radar for ten years. We got lucky. Lucky we found you. Whatever inconsequential role you think you played we could not have stopped him without you. We didn't even know where he ran to when El Orquídea Jardines was destroyed," he tried to explain, hoping this time he had driven the point home. She sat there saying nothing for a long time. He didn't think she knew what to say.

"Alright maybe you're right about the Sanborn incident. But that doesn't change the fact that this incident, Sam's condition, is my fault," she conceded and promptly rebuked in the same sentence. Bridger rolled his eyes and shook his head in exasperation.

"You're impossible. Do you know that? How is this your fault? No one plans for something like this to happen. It just does and then we have to deal with it the best way we can. It doesn't make it the fault of anyone but the person who started it," he said forcefully. Alex shook her head again.

"Captain, you don't understand," she blathered, bordering on tears suddenly.

"Why don't you explain it to me then?" he said; now they were really getting down to the core of it. This went deeper than he expected but he had the horse by the reins now and he wasn't about to let go.

"My parents died when I was still a kid. Lucas put me back together when I fell apart then. When you found me at El Orquídea Jardines he saved my life, put me back together and risked his life to save me and stop Sanborn. You all did. Now you are all trying to save me from this mess. It's not fair to any of you, especially not Lucas. He deserves someone who can put themselves back together without the help of others. Not a former child prodigy with a broken psyche who can't even keep her own life together! People shouldn't have to save me from myself or others. I should be the one doing it not them. How is it fair to saddle him with that Captain? How is it fair to any of you?" she spat, tears welling up and a few spilling over despite her best efforts to fend them off.

"Is that what you think? Let me tell you something Alex, life isn't fair. To anyone. My son Robert died in action, my wife Carol died of an illness no one could stop in time. I ran away to my island thinking I could repair my own broken psyche. I thought I had. But when I came back here I realized I hadn't, that I couldn't. It took me coming back to _seaQuest_ to do that. Letting someone pick me up and put me back together one little piece at a time. You can't do it yourself. Lucas, Dr. Kristin Westphalen, you don't know her, Wendy; all of them put back their own little piece to fix what I couldn't. It's what friends do. That's what they're there for," he consoled her. Alex began to protest again but he cut her off, determined to finish before she could nay say him again.

"They risk their lives every single day for themselves and others because that's what they do. You aren't unique and you certainly haven't caused them hardship they weren't willing to take on. They were willing to risk court martial to stop Sanborn and save you. They made that choice not you."

"One more person who has risked their life just like they have isn't a liability. It's a commodity. Make no mistake about it; you did risk your life with Sanborn. You knew he'd kill you when he found out the chip no longer worked and you did it anyway because it was the only chance to save dozens of lives. You're just like them," he said, illustrating his remark by pointing at the door to include the crew that worked and lived outside it.

"You aren't broken, you're stubborn. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You think you owe us something because we saved your life? You think you owe Lucas? Stop being selfish and give them the chance to know the person they saved. It's their choice if they want to be a part of your life. What right do you have to deny them that? Especially Lucas?" he finished.

Alex stared at him wide eyed, she didn't move, she didn't even breath. She just stared as if someone had dropped an anvil on her, only for her to find the answer she'd been looking for engraved on the top of it. Nathan sat there letting her absorb the whole thing, waiting for her to make the next move. Though he really hoped there would be no next move and he had made her see reason. Eventually she blinked and managed to speak.

"I never thought about it that way," she said simply. Nathan smiled at her warmly. Finally, she had gotten it.

"Well now you have. I've been there, I understand, trust me," he confessed. She broke into a genuine smile of her own, one like he hadn't seen since the end of the Sanborn incident.

"Thank you, Captain," she said. Bridger saluted her lazily with good humor.

"All a part of the service, Alex." he grinned. Wordlessly Alex left the ward room in search of Lucas. She needed to talk to him, tell him all that she hadn't said. Explain why she hadn't come back to _seaQuest_, tell him this time she was staying.


	16. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Lucas spoke in hushed tones, casting suspicious glances over the heads of his would be co-conspirators, convinced they would be caught any minute. They stood in a tight circle, heads bowed nearly touching.

"Well have you done it yet?" Tony asked impatiently. Lucas shook his head.

"No. How can I? There is way too much going on. You weren't supposed to tell anyone," he pointed out.

"Wait a minute. I thought I was your friend Lucas. Why didn't you tell me this already?" Ortiz whispered offended. Lucas rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Because I didn't want anyone to know. Tony only found out because it was kind of hard to hide what I was doing when I bunk with him. If he doesn't shut up it's going to be all over the ship," Lucas complained in a low growl. At this rate, everyone on board was going to know what he was planning before he ever had a chance to do it.

"Well let me see it!" Miguel insisted his hand out stretched.

"Miguel what if..." Lucas started to protest but Ortiz persisted.

"Give," he said waggling his fingers to receive the top secret article. Lucas sighed in annoyance but dug into his pocket and passed it over. Ortiz took it eagerly and let out a soft long whistle.

"Nice, very nice Lucas. How'd you manage to get your hands on this?" he asked appraising the object.

"It took four months. I couldn't make up my mind. Do you think it should be bigger?" he asked critically.

"Yes. Come on Lucas how many times do I have to tell you..." Tony began reiterating the same argument he'd given time and again over this. Lucas glared at him for his trouble.

"Not too big, not too small. I think it'll be perfect," Ortiz countered coughing slightly.

"What will be perfect?" came Alex's voice as she walked up to them. They all jumped like someone had electrocuted them with cattle prods.

"Nothing!" Lucas snapped immediately spinning around to face her. Ortiz shoved his hand in his pocket swiftly and shrugged. While Tony attempted to look like he had nothing to do with anything. Alex quirked an eyebrow at them in confusion.

"We were just, uh, talking about, uh, some modifications I was thinking of making to the WSKRS," Ortiz explained rather unconvincingly, coughing again.

"Uh huh." Alex replied suspecting they had been doing nothing of the sort.

"Where were you anyway? You just disappeared after the meeting," asked Tony using a diversionary tactic. Alex saw right through it but bit anyway. They were probably planning to substitute Ford's drink at dinner with something decidedly less appealing or some other harmless prank. Boys will be boys.

"I never left the ward room. The Captain decided to give me an insightful take on a few things." she answered. Ortiz punctuated the conversation again with a cough.

"Blasted allergies are going to kill me," he muttered.

"The air is filtered. You shouldn't be having a reaction to allergies on the ship," Lucas commented, grabbing the change in topic like a drowning person grabs a life saver. Anything to get off the topic of what they had been doing and keep it there.

"Ah, it's probably just something I touched. Maybe someone's wearing a new perfume I'm allergic to or something. I'll go see Dr. Smith when I get off shift. See if she can't give me something for it," Ortiz said waving him off.

"You do that. That cough sounds a little dry for allergies," Alex said slightly concerned.

"Come to think of it I've had a headache all day. Maybe I should swing by, see what the doc can do about it," Tony added.

"If I had a head like that my head would hurt too," Lucas grinned.

"Okay wise guy. I'm not the one who's..." Tony started to snap back.

"Okay, Tony how about you help me with something on the bridge," Miguel cut him off and steered him in that direction before he could say anything he might regret later.

"See you guys later." he said as he sidled up behind them and slipped the object from his pocket and into Lucas's hand, patting them both on the shoulder amicably to cover the transfer. Lucas promptly shoved it back in his pocket where it belonged, trying not to look guilty. Alex watched Ortiz and Tony go, shaking her head in puzzlement, giving Lucas enough time to make himself look like there was nothing going on.

"Those two are very weird sometimes," she remarked as they turned a bend in the corridor and disappeared from sight.

"Anyway," she said turning back to Lucas, "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a little while?" she asked shyly casting her eyes down and away briefly.

"Sure, but don't you have to get back to med bay and check on those stem cells or Sam?" he asked. Her request made him both apprehensive and eager at the same time. Maybe now she would talk, maybe for the first time she was going to come out and say whatever it was that she had on her mind without having to have it pried from her bit by bit. Then again, maybe she was going to tell him everything he didn't want to hear.

"No, the stem cells won't be done until morning and Sam is as stable as we can get her for the moment. I just think I have a lot explaining to do," she replied.

"Alright. Where do you want to talk?" he asked feeling his stomach tie and untie itself as he held his hand out for hers.

"My quarters?" she answered taking his hand and smiling at him softly, sweetly.

**#**#**

Together they made their way slowly to her quarters, Alex casting him occasional glances he couldn't classify the whole way. Once they were inside, she pulled him down beside her on the couch and took both his hands in hers. The look on her face was so pained in that moment he knew what she was going to say and he knew there was no way he could brace himself for it. He swallowed hard and waited for the blow he knew was coming.

"I'm sorry." she began and Lucas felt like his heart had dropped to his feet. He shut his eyes for the next words, the "I can't do this anymore" or "It's over". He had been right she couldn't take the separations anymore or she had found someone else. Everything he'd done had been for nothing.

"Captain Bridger made me look at a few things differently back there in the ward room. We had a rather...intense conversation. I haven't been fair to you and Captain Bridger made me see that. I've been selfish and I have to tell you why," she continued her tone guilty. He listened squeezing back the tears that tried to force themselves to fall. All those years and this was it. He'd lost her, found her, dared to love her and this was how it was going to end. He kept listening not able to say anything in return his throat was clenched too tightly.

"Lucas are you alright?" she asked tilting her head to look at him. He took a deep breath and forced his eyes open and words from his lips. She was looking back at him with such concern he thought he couldn't bare it.

"Just say it," he whispered hoarsely, the tears welling again no matter how hard he tried to stop them. She blinked seeing the tears. One hand came up caressing his cheek the way she had lying on the floor of Sanborn's lab, dying in his arms.

"This is it isn't it? It's over isn't?" he choked. Her eyes went wide and she took his face in her hands shaking her own adamantly.

"Oh God no, I'm staying. Here on _seaQuest_ if you and the Captain will let me," she answered her eyes searching his; terrified he would say no for some reason. Lucas felt like someone had removed a dagger from his heart and once again it could beat.

"What? You are? Permanently?" he asked, his eyes pleading with her not to be joking. He couldn't take it if she wasn't serious.

"Yes." she answered firmly a bright smile playing on her lips. He smiled back his fears sent running by that one simple word.

"That's, that's great. Of course I want you to stay. I always have," he gushed, chuckling in relief. He'd been wrong! She was staying! He felt weight lift off his shoulders he hadn't realized was there and at the same time he felt foolish for thinking she was leaving him.

"I'm trying to explain why I hadn't already come back. Can I finish now? Did you really think I was going to leave you?" she asked. He thought about denying it for a moment and then thought better of it. Sheepishly he looked down.

"Uh, yeah I did," he admitted and she frowned deeply with what he thought was regret.

"I should have told you this a long time ago. Maybe then you wouldn't have thought that. I thought I was protecting you or maybe I wasn't really thinking at all. The whole thing in the corridor earlier, the reason I haven't come back to _seaQuest_, all of it is because I didn't think it was fair to you to be stuck with someone with a broken psyche. To be stuck with someone who can't even keep her own life together and force you to have to keep putting me back together or get me out of the disasters I seem to keep getting into. That it wasn't fair to keep tearing your life apart with my problems," she told him and understanding hit him like a ton of bricks. Now he understood all the hints, all the allusions, and evasions of the last year and a half.

"Don't you think you ought to let me decide if that's fair or not?" he asked and an ironic smiled formed on her face.

"That's exactly what Captain Bridger said. That it was your choice and not mine. I realize that now. He made me see things from a different perspective. Forcefully," she answered. Lucas laughed understanding exactly what she meant.

"Yeah he's pretty good at that. Sweetheart why didn't you just tell me? Putting you back together when you fall apart is my job. It's what people who love each other do. They're there for each other when the world falls down. Captain Bridger taught me that," he reasoned pulling her into his arms so her head rested on his chest. He was glad she had come clean with him and slightly saddened she hadn't felt she could before Nathan had raked her over the coals.

"That's just it Lucas, for each other. Do you really want to keep putting back the pieces day after day, year after year? You keep picking me up not the other way around," she amended her head tilted back so she could keep her position and still see him while she talked. Lucas couldn't help but gape at her. She had things about as backward as she possibly could.

"Oh really? Who was it that I ranted and raved at when my father, yet again, failed to come through on holidays in college? Who stayed behind on campus with me, made me feel like she didn't pity me for it and still managed to make it feel like it was a holiday after all? Who was the shoulder I cried on when I felt abandoned by my parents time and again? You've done plenty of picking me up and sooner or later it will happen again and you'll put the pieces back just like you always do," he enlightened her as he absently played with a tendril of her hair. The surprised look on her face was priceless. She really hadn't seen it that way.

"Don't hide from me behind that wall of yours because you think I don't want the responsibility of helping you when things get a little rocky. If I didn't, I wouldn't be with you, Alex. Give me a little credit for being able to make my own decisions. All I want is you," he added, waiting for her response. She sat silent for a moment and then shook her head tears of her own threatening to start.

"All that though... Lucas I didn't risk my life to save you from a mad man. It wasn't the end of the world. It wasn't nearly as serious as what you've saved me from. I can never make up for that," she insisted.

"Funny, it didn't feel that way at the time. It's not about who saved who from what. The fact is you did, I did, we did. That's what's important. You want to make up for that? Then stop trying to decide what's fair to me and let me decide that for myself. It's not your right to it's mine and I choose to pick you up a million times a day if that's what it takes," he countered and she laughed through the tears that quivered on her lashes unshed.

"Captain Bridger said that too," she pointed out. Lucas smiled one of his enigmatic smiles.

"Smart man." he said his voice soft and low as he slipped one hand behind her head and his lips found hers. He needed it; she needed it, that affirmation that only came from a kiss, a touch. The intensity with which she fell into it took his breath away. It was all the passion and love that he had felt holding her on the floor of Sanborn's lab with none of the sorrow and loss. In their place flooded a sense of throwing caution to the wind, of letting go and just being.

Without consciously making the decision to do it, he lowered her back onto the couch, his lips moving from her mouth, across her jaw line to trail down her throat. Her hands slide up his back, into his hair as she uttered a soft gasp and arched against him... from there the world could have stopped turning and neither of them would ever have known.


	17. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

This time they were both awake to greet the morning and were intent on reenacting the night before. In fact, they were so involved with each other, tangled in the bed sheets; neither noticed the repeated chimes indicating there was someone trying to contact them on the room's vidlink. Both of them were oblivious to anything but each other, hands and lips finding places that made skin tingle and senses reel, drowning out the rest of the world.

The vidlink chimed for a full five minutes before whoever it was took matters into their own hands and still neither of them noticed. Lucas was focused on a particularly good spot at the join of Alex's shoulder and neck that sent her wild when he heard someone clear their throat. Sure he was imagining things since no one else was in the room he ignored it but only a second later it happened again.

"Is this a bad time?"

Lucas sat up so fast he slammed his head into the bed's overhang, eyes wide in surprise. He yelped in pain and clutched his head. He was already unbalanced and it sent him tumbling out of the bed onto the floor with a loud thud. He fought madly to right himself amid the knot of sheets while Alex squeaked like a frightened mouse and clutched the blanket to her, scrambling backward on the bed in shock. Her face turned thirty shades of red in the time it took to blink.

Finally freeing himself, he flung the sheet around his bare form instead and faced the vidlink. It had seemed like it took minutes to transpire when it hadn't taken more than a second. The face looking back at him was utterly bemused by the whole thing, the mouth twitching with barely contained laughter, eyes twinkling in what had to be a self-satisfied look of poetic justice.

"Captain!" Lucas squawked. Nathan cocked an eyebrow and looked from one side of the vidlink's field of vision to the other settling on Lucas's mortified expression.

"This looks familiar," he said with an incongruous grin, "Shoe's on the other foot, eh Lucas?" Lucas gaped at him.

"That's not funny!" he protested in an abashed voice, finger pointed at the screen in embarrassed anger. Alex stared at the captain's visage on the view screen, her jaw dropped, unable to say anything at all. Lucas's indignation undid Bridger completely and he laughed heartily.

"Yes, it is," Nathan observed mirthfully. Lucas's jaw worked without sound for a few beats before he could come up with something to say.

"Can we do something for you Captain?" he stammered and stuttered losing whatever witty comeback had been hanging on his tongue.

"Actually, I was just going to let you know the stem cell analysis will be done in about an hour. You both might want to join Wendy in the med bay," Bridger answered with as mild a tone as he could. He was still trying not to laugh at the irony of situation. Who would have thought that five years later, he would catch Lucas in almost exactly the same spot Lucas had caught him in all those years ago.

"Yes sir. We'll be right there." Lucas answered, his voice forced into the proper tone as he tossed stray, bed raggled hair out of his eyes. Bridger's mouth quirked again unbidden and his face cracked into a grin.

"Very good." was all he could get out before switching off the vidlink and wondering if Lucas and Alex heard the jag of laughter that followed before he could hit the switch.

**#**#**

By the time they reached the medical bay thirty minutes later Lucas had been forced to explain exactly what the captain had found so funny. Alex had been in such a hurry to get clothing on after the incident that she hadn't even bothered to put her vial necklace back on. It still sat safely on a shelf in her quarters.

Alex was more than a little amused over the whole thing, even if she had been embarrassed right along with him. It left Lucas acting a little more reticent than usual. That and the feel of that small, secret object hidden safely in his pocket. His hand slide into his pocket, unconsciously stroking the velvety surface.

Now that things were right between him and Alex he could follow through with his plans with no reservations that what he might do would be construed as pushing her to stay. Instead, now the real details of that plan came down to how he would do it, not if. A slow soft smile tugged at his mouth as he thought about what he would do and reminded himself to talk to the captain as soon as he had the chance. He'd get chaffed for the incident earlier but it would all be worth it in the end.

"Well, you two are an odd mix this morning," Wendy greeted them both. Lucas snapped back to reality leaving his thoughts unfinished at the sound of her voice. Dr. Smith stood just outside her office door looking them both over quizzically.

"Huh?" Alex muttered confused, lost in her own thoughts. Wendy smiled at them.

"You both look like you can't decide whether you're happy or embarrassed," she pointed out and Lucas felt his cheeks grow warm, running a hand through his hair nervously he chuckled and brushed it off.

"Yeah that, just an interesting morning."

"Uh huh, I see."

"How is Sam?" Alex's voice cut through the conversation, saving Lucas from possibly stumbling into another embarrassing exchange. She wasn't looking at either of them, her attention distracted by Sam pacing the confines of the patient area, talking to thin air as if she were arguing with a ghost. Beyond her, several other patients sat or laid on beds, none looking terribly ill but just the same the sudden influx of patients was a little odd. Wendy's face grew solemn suddenly.

"The anti-psychotics aren't helping very much. She is at least calm enough she doesn't seem to be a danger to herself or others but she has been doing that for hours. I can't understand a word she says, she's mumbling word salad. Just a jumble of words that mean nothing."

Alex's expression turned dark and morose, her shoulders slumping under the weight of an imagined guilt for Sam's condition. Lucas squeezed her shoulder, hoping it would offer some comfort. She looked back at him and smiled wanly.

"Isn't there anything else you can do?" he asked.

"No, not really. I'll continue treatment and hope it's just taking more time than expected to work. Other than that..." Wendy said with a shake of her head letting the sentence trail off in impotence.

"Where did all the other patients come from?" Alex interjected. Wendy's brows quirked giving her a confounded expression.

"I've had a whole slew of them this morning. They started to trickle in last night with Tony and Miguel. None of them have anything particularly uncomfortable. Headaches, coughs, chills, aches and pains. But none of them show any other signs of being sick, they act sick, they feel sick but there's nothing wrong with them as far as I can tell."

The look that Alex gave Wendy said more than words could have.

"You don't think them being sick could be related to Sam do you?" Lucas asked worried.

"Let's hope not. None of Sam's tests show anything contagious and none of them are showing the same symptoms as she is so I doubt it." Wendy explained. The long beep of a machine declaring its work done interrupted them and Wendy turned to check on it. She tapped the machine's console several times before walking off to fetch something from a nearby printer and came back with a report several pages long in hand.

"Well the stem cell analysis is done. Let's have a look at it."

Alex cast a concerned glance at Sam and Dr. Smith's new batch of patients before joining Lucas and Wendy to huddle over the report anxiously. They all read for a few minutes in silence, the looks on Wendy's and Alex's faces growing more and more troubled with every line. Lucas however couldn't understand most of what he saw. Half of it was nothing more than an erratic clutter of g's , t's , a's and c's.

"Okay I don't understand what I'm looking at." he confessed. Alex didn't bother to look up as she explained her eyes still scanning the pages.

"It is engineered and there are twice the number of genes present as there should be. The machine wasn't confused after all."

"And that means?" he prodded for more information.

"We don't know yet Lucas, let us finish the report. There are some very anomalous readings here," Wendy told him. Alex began flipping back and forth frantically between pages comparing something.

"No, no, no, no," she muttered as she dashed off for a clipboard in a file box hung by the entrance to the patient area. Racing back with it she flipped through it the same way. She sat the clipboard down with a clatter and began comparing whatever was written on the clipboard to the stem cell analysis and then dashed off for the file box without a word.

Wendy looked from her to the papers, whatever Alex was frantic about dawning on her too. She snatched up the analysis and clipboard and looked it over herself. The slow look of horror that crept over her features gave Lucas a chill down his spine as Alex came back with every patient clipboard that had been in the file box. She began checking through each and every one with increasing distress.

"The readings are the same, the protein levels we couldn't explain are the same for the stem cells and Sam's blood tests," Wendy said in astonishment.

"What's more so are the levels on every patient in here," Alex added.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked apprehensive, his tone uneasy. If Wendy and Alex were both unsettled by what they were seeing he figured, he had every reason to be too. Both women exchanged one long helpless look.

"This isn't just some harmless genetically altered stem cell experiment, this is a biological weapon," Alex breathed in explanation. Lucas felt the chill that had been confined to his spine rush over his whole body standing the hairs on end.

"But you can't catch stem cells Alex. They aren't a contagious agent, no one in here except you, me, Lucas, and Samantha has had any contact with them. Even contact wouldn't work. You can't _catch_ a stem cell," Wendy reasoned. Alex shook her head in disagreement.

"No, stem cells aren't contagious but if you could distribute them to a wide group of people and then use a catalyst what you would have is a biological weapon, a genetic bomb waiting for the trigger. Whatever the catalyst is the protein is a byproduct of it."

"How do you know that?" Lucas asked sharply taken back that Alex could know that much about making a weapon like that.

"Think about what I specialize in. Don't you think we covered this in college? We were all warned about the ethics involved with making something like this, about the possibility of being asked to or tempted to. About how illegal it would be to do it, how wrong. It's not a matter of knowing how to do it; it's a matter of knowing _not_ to do it."

"But why would someone do this? Not Dr. Ward surely. He's been fighting for years to cure diseases not make new ones." Wendy said in disbelief.

"I don't know. Whatever this is, it's rupturing cells and leaving them unable to repair themselves. It's turning on and replicating dormant genes. The only thing I don't understand is the second strand of DNA, it's normal. It doesn't seem to have a purpose," Alex said casting a troubled glance through the window to the patient area.

"Those patients, they're dying - all of them. If we have been exposed to those stem cells and the catalyst somehow, this will kill us all."

The sudden sounding of _seaQuest's_ klaxon alarms and O'Neill's voice calling over the loud speakers accentuated Alex's ominous proclamation.

"General quarters, general quarters. All hands man your battle stations."


	18. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Uh oh," Lucas whispered, his gaze shifting up as if searching above them might tell him why general quarters had been sounded.

"What's going on?" Alex asked. She had never been on the ship when a call to battle had been sounded and had no idea what general quarters meant.

"We're going to battle stations; someone or something is threatening to attack us. Come on," Wendy explained heading out the door for the bridge.

"Attack?" Alex babbled back, puzzled.

Lucas caught hold of Alex's hand and pulled her along behind him, following Wendy out into the halls. They made their way to the bridge amid the press of crew dashing back and forth to their assigned stations like bees in a hive. None of them failed to notice a drawn face, an odd cough, a sneeze or a pasty complexion as they passed. Each one reminding them sharply of Alex's words.

They made it onto the bridge just as the clamshell doors swung shut, barely making it inside. Lucas released Alex's hand, bounding up to his own station and settled his head set on. Captain Bridger cast them a glance in acknowledgment but was too busy with the current situation to explain. They had entered in the middle of a flurry of activity and so Wendy made herself as small and out of the way as possible, pulling a bewildered and anxious Alex over to stand next to her.

"Why didn't we see them before now?" Nathan asked Ortiz who coughed before responding his voice hoarse.

"They were lying along the bottom Captain, moving just out of sensor range. A sediment swirl kept us from picking them up on sonar."

On the forward screen a typhoon class Delta IV could be seen hovering like a hungry shark waiting for its prey to move, something on the bottom of the ship beginning to spiral open. To Lucas, it would have been more imposing if the sub didn't look like it was limping along, a patch work of repaired breeches, welds and scars marring its hull. The sub had obviously suffered extensive damage over the years and it had been repaired well but the scars marked it as second hand at best, probably under crewed and most likely not up to spec for a normal sub of its class. To Alex's inexperienced eye, it looked like the gaping maw of a Megalodon ready to swallow the _seaQuest_ like a tasty morsel, despite being half the size of its target.

"Their fore torpedo tubes are flooded and opening Captain. They're preparing to fire," Commander Ford informed him from his position just ahead of Nathan. Wendy placed a calming hand on Alex's arm in Lucas's absence, trying to still the panicked expression that was growing more pronounced with every second.

"Load countermeasures. See if you can hail them."

"Aye, aye sir." Brody and O'Neill both acknowledged at the same time.

"Unknown sub this is the UEO vessel _seaQuest DSV_, please respond."

"Looks like your friends have come looking for you Alex. Don't worry; they haven't got a chance against us." Bridger reassured her with a pat on the shoulder, seeing the fearful expression on her face. Lucas cast her a bolstering smile from his station, one hand pressed to his ear piece before returning his gaze to the small screen in front of him.

"They aren't responding Captain," O'Neill said.

"Counter measures loaded and ready," called Brody

"Good, hold for my mark. Tim open a channel. If they won't talk to us we'll talk to them."

"Channel open and ready Captain."

"I don't know what you think you're doing but you have lost your mind. We could blow you out of the water if we wanted to. Stand down," Bridger said into the empty silence of the comm channel, waiting for a response of some kind. He got it.

"They're firing! E-static torpedo at one thousand meters and closing," Ortiz warned.

"Launch counter measures!"

"Counter measures away."

Everyone held their breath as they watched the torpedo and counter measures streak toward each other.

"Torpedo at eight hundred meters, seven hundred meters." The torpedo exploded in a disruption of water and air, sending up a cloud of sediment in its wake, detonating well outside _seaQuest's_ danger zone.

"Torpedo destroyed Captain," Ortiz relayed from his station; his eyes were red rimmed and his skin clammy. Alex couldn't help but shiver knowing somehow he had been exposed to the stem cells, both his and Tony's charts had been among those she looked through in the medical bay but she didn't have time to dwell on the thought.

"Captain, they fired two torpedoes. Only one deployed, the other tube has jammed and the torpedo is armed." Lucas cautioned his eyes locked on his screen.

"That'll blow their whole ship apart." Ford replied aghast.

"Back us up, full reverse!" Bridger ordered. Henderson had begun pulling them back before he could even get the words out.

"Aye, aye sir." she said as the ship began backing as quickly as possible away from the doomed sub.

"You have a torpedo jammed in one of your fore torpedo tubes, disarm and stand down before you blow yourselves apart," Ford advised them as he flipped a switch on Tim's console, bypassing an order to hail the other vessel. Just as quickly O'Neill flicked on the forward screen splitting it in half, the faces of the henchman who had attempted to kill Alex and Sam staring back at them from one side while the jury-rigged sub still hung in the other.

"Give us the stem cells, Ms. Northman and Ms. Collins," one of them barked. The same one who had seemed to be the leader before, blood shot, jaundiced eyes glaring at them beneath a thick brow, his jaw set in anger. He hadn't looked that way the first time Alex had encountered him and she felt that chill creep up her spine again.

"He has it," Alex muttered in horror. The man never got a chance to say anything else.

_SeaQuest_ got just out of blast range before the sub came apart like so many smashed children's Lego blocks, sending debris hurling in all directions. The shock wave from the explosion hit the ship despite the distance between them, rocking it, causing the framework to rattle like steel girders shaken by a giant and sending the crew scrambling to grab something sturdy to hold on to.

Once the ship steadied everyone slowly let go of their hand holds and looked around as if to assure themselves the ship was still in one piece.

"Engineering, report." Bridger barked.

"No damage, just a bumpy ride." Henderson answered him and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The _seaQuest_ might be the biggest, most well armed and toughest thing in the water but that didn't mean a well-aimed shot or a stroke of chance couldn't make her just as vulnerable as her adversaries.

"Idiots. Why didn't they disarm the torpedo? What were they thinking?" Bridger said in disbelief. Still shaken by the attack Alex's voice was a bare whisper.

"Maybe they weren't thinking at all."

"That doesn't make any sense you don't just ignore an armed torpedo jammed in your launch tubes. It's suicide." Ford answered her.

"They may not have been thinking coherently Captain," Wendy agreed following Alex's train of thought.

"What are you two talking about?" Bridger asked, confused. Lucas pulled his head set off and dropped down to the deck beside them knowing full well where they were going with this.

"His eyes were jaundiced, yellowed. It's a sign of liver failure. There could have been any number of other things wrong. He wasn't like that the first time I saw him. I think he may be affected by the stem cells too."

"We may have more problems than suicidal hired guns Captain." Lucas put in. Bridger looked at them all in turn, his expression demanding a prompt explanation.

"And?" he demanded. All three of them exchanged foreboding glances.

"Those stem cells were engineered. They're a biological weapon. If any of us have been exposed to it we will all die." Alex explained. Wendy took up her thread of words.

"Sam's blood tests, the test on all the patients I have in the medical bay right now, all show the same increase in protein levels as the stem cells. I've had a steady stream of minor complaints since last night."

"You can't catch stem cells Wendy. Alex, you should know that." Nathan protested, following what would have been a perfectly logical train of thought under any other circumstances.

"No you can't. They would have to have been distributed somehow and activated with a catalyst. The thing is I have no idea how Sam and the others were exposed to it or what the catalyst is. The proteins are just a byproduct of it. The catalyst is why only one sample of the stem cells is acting this way, the rest are just waiting to come in contact with it to activate. Until they do, they're abnormal but harmless. This isn't something you can pass back and forth like the flu, this had to have been deliberately spread to each and every person who has it," Alex tried to explain.

"So you're saying we're all infected with some kind of disease that will kill us if it's turned on? Like a remote controlled bomb?" Brody asked worriedly. None of them had noticed everyone on the bridge was listening to the conversation, stopped mid stride in whatever they had been doing. Some of them frozen in whatever pose they had stopped in, all of them looked horrified.

"Not a disease, more like a genetic scrambler. The stem cells replicate and attack normal ones, copying and turning on dormant DNA in the host body and rupturing cell membranes, leaving them unable to repair themselves. In other words, you begin to fall apart from the inside out." Alex corrected him pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Well how do you stop it?" Ford asked.

"We don't know yet Commander. All my patients show signs of being exposed to it and we have no idea how to treat them. We can't, not until we know how they got exposed to both the stem cells and the catalyst in the first place. Even then we still might not be able to," Wendy said.

"We also have no way of knowing how many people have been exposed. This might not be contained to just _seaQuest_. If whoever did this used a wide enough distribution plan there could be hundreds, maybe thousands exposed. If they've come in contact with the catalyst too I don't have to tell you what that will do," Lucas observed.

"All I can tell you is someone went to a lot of trouble to design a weapon capable of killing people within days without anyone realizing what's causing it and we have no way to stop it. We can't even slow it down." Alex finished, leaving everyone open mouthed and white as sheets. The first one to recover from the achingly uncomfortable silence was the captain.

"Henderson how far are we from Mendel Laboratory at our current speed?"

"Six days Captain."

"Get us to that lab as fast as you can. Change course if you have to. Full speed ahead" he barked.

"O'Neill get me Dr. Ward on the vidlink. If anyone will know what's going on hopefully he will. We'll just have to take the chance that whoever did this will over hear the communication. Then get me Admiral Noyce and Secretary General McGath." he amended. Neither of them answered instead they just did as they were ordered without a word, too disturbed by the news Alex brought on the heels of the Delta IV's failed attack to say anything.

"In the mean time you better start trying to find out what will stop this before we all end up dead," he told Wendy who shook her head.

"I'm sorry Nathan; I'm out of my depth here. This isn't something I have all that much experience with, I might be able to help but I have no idea where to start," she answered him sadly. Lucas stood by and watched as the captain's gaze turned to Alex.

"Then you're the one who is going to have to do it."

Alex blinked in astonishment. It wasn't that she didn't know what she was doing, it wasn't that she didn't have more experience working with engineered biomedical and genetic substances than anyone else on board, she just never expected for the captain to look to her to take charge of anything. She wasn't even a member of the crew much less the leader she thought he was looking for. Being in charge of her own project all in her own due time, in the sterility and sanctity of a research lab was one thing. Being told to take charge of a mission to save a ship full of people, maybe more, was completely different.

"Me?" she shrilled.

"Yes you. This is what you do Alex." Bridger affirmed taking her by the shoulders and looking her in the eye, forcing her to focus and pay attention. To stop the impending episode of panic and resistance he saw rising in her.

"You said we picked up the pieces for you. Now here's your chance to pick up the pieces for us." he told her and her eyes widened in understanding then narrowed and became coldly serious.

"Who can I have to work with?"

"Take anyone you need."

"Yes sir!" she answered her voice clipped and resolute.


	19. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

It took the better part of three hours but Alex took the captain at his word. She, Wendy and Lucas had scoured through the files of every member of the scientific and medical teams on board until they had complied what they hoped would be a team that could help solve their current problem. Now, Lucas watched her as she hastened back and forth across sea deck making sure everything was in place while he made last minute calibrations to Darwin's vocoder.

A large white board complete with ample markers and erasers had been set up on one side of the room. Across from it sat several long, folding tables arranged ended to end until it resembled a catwalk instead of a work surface. On the side opposite of it facing the white board, chairs had been lined complete with pens, paper, water, coffee and anything else they could think of to keep the team going and their minds focused. Granted sea deck was a peculiar place to have this kind of a meeting of the minds but it allowed enough room to get everyone in comfortably and offered pleasant surroundings.

It also allowed Darwin to be part of the team. Ever since Alex had found out it had been him that had given Lucas the key to freeing her from the coma she spent six years in, she had instilled a great deal of belief and faith in the cetacean most people wouldn't have, even those who knew him in some cases. Lucas wasn't sure if including him showed how far outside the box she could think or how desperate she was for an answer to this malady before it was too late. He imagined those they had chosen to be part of the team would be more than a little confused about reporting to the sea deck for duty.

Just as he finished the last calibrations to the vocoder, Dagwood came venturing in his cleaning solution filled mop in one hand and a perplexed look on his face.

"Are we having a party?" he asked in that deceptively soft voice of his.

"No Dagwood, we're having a meeting. People are getting sick much faster than they should and we don't know how to stop it. So, we're going to all talk it over and see if we can't figure it out," Lucas told him sliding off the lip of the pool where Darwin bobbed like a float waiting for the meeting to start. The dolphin was uncharacteristically quiet and subdued instead of his usual playful, exuberant self. Lucas thought he knew exactly how serious the situation was even without knowing exactly what was going on. Darwin had that way about him, knowing what shouldn't be known and a depth of insight that eluded even the brightest of humans at times.

"Are the people who are sick going to be okay? Can you make them better?"

"We don't know Dag that's what we're trying to find out."

Alex noticed them talking and waved briefly, even managing a smile that though tainted by the worry written in the lines between her brows was still happy to see him, before turning back to her work placing a stack of reports in front of each chair.

"I'll go. I don't want to be in the way. I can clean in here later," Dagwood said turning to leave. Alex nearly broke her neck scrambling around the carefully placed furniture to stop him before Lucas could tell him; he was perfectly welcome to stay.

"No, no! Stay please Dagwood. You won't be in the way and right now I'm grasping at straws here. The more the merrier. Maybe you can help, you never know," she pleaded. Dagwood blinked a few times at her and looked as if she had lost her mind.

"I will help. Where are the straws?"

Lucas choked on a chortle and patted his arm affectionately.

"She doesn't mean real straws. It's a figure of speech," he explained, as he removed his hand from Dagwood's arm, his fingers brushed the top of Dagwood's hand and came away slick with sweat.

"Oh."

Lucas took a good, hard look at his genetically engineered friend. A thin sheen of sweat covered his hands, face, the bald pate of his head and what little was exposed of his neck and chest.

"You're sweating," Lucas observed the first shades of concern coloring his words.

"It's hot in here," Dagwood replied in a no none sense tone.

"It's not hot in here Dag. It's exactly seventy two degrees Fahrenheit. Are you hot Lucas?" Alex asked looking him over as closely as Lucas had. She had intentionally set the climate controls for maximum comfort with the team on its way and many long hours of work ahead of them.

"No," he answered shaking his head and exchanging a grave look with Alex. The look she gave him back said what they both already knew. Even genetically engineered life forms like Dagwood were not immune; he should never have shown any symptoms of illness. G.E. were not susceptible to the diseases and illnesses regular humans were. They had been designed not to be, that only left one possibility.

Alex looked away and Lucas tried to force his expression into one not lined with rising panic. There was no point in terrifying Dagwood with the information when they had no way of saving him. Let him enjoy what time he had left in the peace the rest of the crew wouldn't have, if they couldn't find a cure.

The thud and clank of footsteps kept them from discussing it any further as Wendy came in trailed by their cobbled together research team. Behind her six mildly confused, somewhat disgruntled people trudged. All looking like they thought they had better places to be.

Brown haired and bookish, Sarah Marks looked every inch of what she was, a clinical pathologist. She fought with her glasses, every few seconds pushing them back up the bridge of her nose. Short tempered and antisocial epidemiologist Randall Smith with his short cropped hair and nails clipped down to the quick kept close on her heels, choosing to stay as close to the next person in line as possible. Despite that close proximity he kept casting impatient glances at anyone who stood still long enough for his eyes to land on them.

Next came Nick Reed, infectiologist extraordinaire and general egocentric. Good looking, tall and perfectly groomed he looked as out of place among his fellow scientists as a fox in the hen house. Behind him was molecular biologist Allen Young, slightly rotund and looking more uncomfortable than anyone else in the room, he tried to stay in the others' shadows. As if he hoped not to be noticed unless it became absolutely necessary.

The last two to make up the impromptu team were immunologist Ian Miller, who looked more like he belonged behind the podium at Stanford giving lectures than shuttling around under the ocean on the _seaQuest_. In direct contrast to him was his wife Angie Walker, a microbiologist who held the air of someone who, if she had been a couple of decades younger, would have been at the center of the hippie movement in the 1960's.

Together with Alex's biomedical engineering and genetics background, Wendy's training as a biophysicist, Lucas's unsurpassed technological abilities, Darwin's providential perspicacity and maybe even a little bit of Dagwood's sometimes simplistic acumen, they hoped they had a team that fate and the laws of science couldn't beat.

"Well, this is everybody. Alex, Lucas are you ready?" Wendy asked as she strode in full of purpose. Lucas nodded that he was giving first Alex and then Wendy a meaningful look before his eyes flickered to Dagwood and away again. Alex couldn't bring herself to do that much. She cast Wendy the same look Lucas had before averting her eyes to the floor and turning away, her hands buried in her hair, a motion reminiscent of his own behavior when stressed. Wendy caught the undertone of the exchange, her gaze shifting to Dagwood briefly, her lips pressed into a thin line.

"Yeah, let's get this ball rolling. We're short on time as it is," Alex sighed. Wendy acknowledged her with a tiny nod of her head as she gestured for the others to take their seats. She squeezed Dagwood's broad shoulder affectionately as she made her way to her own seat. Dagwood smiled at her completely unaware of the worry and despair that it carried.

It took a few minutes for everyone to get settled, Dagwood taking a seat on the lip of the pool next to Lucas as the scientists picked their own seats, eying each other and them with unhappy anticipation and distrustful caution. One of the hazards of working with some of the most brilliant scientists in the world was the eccentric personalities they inevitably came with. Without fail they always clashed from time to time and the higher the pressure the more likely those clashes were to happen. Lucas still didn't understand how Captain Bridger had managed to get both the scientific _and_ naval crews to work together so well for so long. Alex looked like she didn't know whether to try and work with them or place them all in detention.

Wendy sat on the end of the table rather than take a seat just as on edge as the rest of them despite being better at hiding it. Every second they took seemed to agitate Alex. Lucas watched her standing by the whiteboard twirling a marker in one hand while her foot tapped in time to it. He worried that her impatience was going to throw the newly assembled team into disquiet. Every one of them noticed it and every one of them looked more apprehensive for it. Alex gave them exactly enough time to be firmly seated before she launched into speech. They all listened rapt and horrified as she explained exactly why they had been brought here and what it was they were dealing with. By the time she had finished, all of the scientists had their jaws open in shock and the silence that flooded in was so loud it roared in Lucas's ears.

"So, ladies and gentlemen we have to figure out how wide spread this has become and what is activating it in the first place. Thoughts?" Alex asked, giving each one of them a pleading look. Please have something, anything, it screamed.

"Well, somehow we have to trace those stem cells from their source to where ever they might have been distributed," Sarah Marks said. Once one had spoken they all began rapid firing comments and questions at the same time. Dagwood and Darwin were quiet and contemplative in comparison. He, Alex and Wendy had to pay very close attention or miss what someone said among the chaos of voices.

"How do we do that? We might have found where they came from but finding where they might have been sent, on that kind of scale, is going to be impossible," Ian Miller pointed out.

"There has to be a way. You don't just throw medical technology out there to the four winds without protocols to keep tabs on it," Nick Reed shot back. The conversation kept on in the same manner, one argument traded for another until Dagwood coughed loudly into the din of voices.

"Dagwood, did you have something to say?" Alex asked pitching her voice over the others. They took the hint and quieted though they shifted in their chairs, irked about being cut off. They didn't seem to notice the back and forth was getting them nowhere.

"Can you track it? Like a scent or foot prints." he asked a little nervous with all eyes on him, some of which didn't look particularly happy about him speaking up.

"What do you mean Dagwood?" Lucas asked, trying to understand where he was going with this.

"This is ridiculous. He's a Dagger. He can't possibly have any idea what he's talking about or what to do about a situation like this," Randall Smith castigated. Alex turned on him so quickly he snapped back in his chair as if he had been slapped.

"If you have an issue with who I picked as members of this team, you are welcome to leave it."

Alex had leaned on the table inching to within a hand's breadth of Randall's nose daring him to say something in retort. The momentary flash of anger left Lucas and Wendy wide eyed. He thought perhaps the stress was getting to her too fast. The pressure too much. Not only was the outburst out of character it was counterproductive. The last thing they could afford was to alienate the few people capable of helping.

"You were saying Dagwood?" Wendy asked returning the conversation to its course before Alex could have another outburst. She was still staring Randall down and he had recovered from his initial shock to stare back with a glare as icy as her own.

"I thought maybe you could follow it like foot prints on the ground," Dagwood answered his voice more subdued than before. He had never seen Alex angry much less suddenly snap like that.

"Foot prints. There's an idea. He just might have something," Angie Walker said mildly. Alex looked over at her, face still contorted in fury. Angie looked unfazed by it and slowly the anger ebbed from her features as realization took its place.

"Foot prints, markers, isotopes. That's it!" she said with exuberance, her mood swinging wildly from her previous one.

"What's it?" Nick Reed asked confused.

"Markers! All stem cells, all biological research materials, are marked with identifying isotopes unique to the lab that created them. Wherever these stem cells came from and where ever they might have been sent, the marker will be the same. All we have to do is track the isotope. Foot prints in the sand!" Allen Young said the same look of understanding blooming on his face, the sudden upswing in the room's mood making him more out spoken than he normally was.

"Exactly!" Alex affirmed as she jotted the information on the whiteboard with a flourish.

"Good thinking Dagwood." Wendy told him. He smiled that comical but proud grin of his in response.

"Lucas, this is something you're best suited for. You'll need to track the identifying isotope from Mendel Lab. See where it shows up and look for it only where it might have been spread to the public. If it never went any further than research it's not what we're looking for," Alex said.

"I'm on it as soon as this meeting is over," he replied. He was relieved they now had some way to start fighting this thing, a step in the right direction.

"Now that we have a way of tracking the spread of the stem cells we need to focus on how the catalyst is getting out there," Wendy said prodding them to move to the next issue.

"Any ideas?" Lucas nudged further. Alex just looked on expectantly, marker ready to write down anything they said. If they could figure out where the catalyst was coming from, finding out what it was would be much simpler.

"Direct contact."

"Person to person transmission."

"Blood borne."

"Food supply."

"Airborne."

The team rattled off various ideas, all of which Alex wrote in a list, crossing them out one at a time as they determined that there was no way this or that particular method was viable given the circumstances and the environment. After they had managed to exhaust the entire list of possible ways of transmitting the catalyst they still had nothing. Every one of them seemed improbable at best, impossible at worst.

Darwin who had not said a word the entire time finally chose that moment make his own conjecture. He moved so his head was as far above the pool edge as possible and whistled once, the vocodor translating less than a beat behind.

"Water."

"What about it Darwin?" Lucas asked turning to the dolphin.

"Water." he repeated, slapping his tail forcefully against the water in his tank, causing a splash that extended several feet, soaking anyone within range of the deluge.

"Yes, but what about the water?" Alex asked shaking droplets of it off her arms.

Darwin never got the chance to explain.

"Dr. Smith. Emergency in med bay. Get down here quick!" crackled the voice of a nurse through the comm system's speakers. Screaming in the background almost drowned out the woman's voice. Wendy was across the room to the communications wall unit so fast it looked like she had just appeared there. All of them exchanged a fearful glance before they riveted their attention on Wendy again.

"What's going on?" Wendy asked the disembodied voice being piped in.

"It's Samantha Collins." the nurse said her sentence cut off by another scream. "Just get down here please!"

"On my way."

Wendy didn't have to look back to know Alex and Lucas had both vaulted the table and were following her at a dead run. Dagwood and the other scientists followed on their heels confused and frightened. Lucas had the sinking feeling if the seriousness of their situation hadn't hit them yet it was about to. None of them heard Darwin insist more ardently than ever...

"In the water!"


	20. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

They reached med bay so quickly Lucas was sure if someone had been timing them they would have just set a new world record. As soon as he saw what had prompted the emergency call in the first place he thought maybe he would just as soon have stayed on sea deck and not seen it. The image would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Sam was tied down to a bed, thrashing as if someone had electrified her spine, in a grand mal seizure of a magnitude he thought he would only ever see in movies. Her eyes were open and staring, repeated screams ripped from her throat. If that wasn't disturbing enough she was covered in blood, not a gout of it from a wound, not even a splash from a severed artery. Every inch of her was covered as if she had been dropped fully clothed into a tub full of it; even the whites of her eyes were scarlet.

"It just happened. One second she was sleeping the next she started seizing and before we could do anything she started hemorrhaging—everywhere," the nurse, whose voice Lucas recognized as the one who had made the call, supplied before Wendy could ask what had happened.

While they had stopped just inside the threshold of the door she hadn't even broken stride. She had sprung straight from her mad dash here into action, taking charge of the situation as calmly as if she were giving a routine examination. Only the tremor of her hands betrayed the throttle of adrenalin and fear that fueled her calm exterior.

Beside him Alex stood rooted to the spot, white as a sheet, eyes locked on the scene playing out before them, her breath caught in her throat. Behind them, the scientists pushed and shoved trying to see through the small door to the space within. Dagwood didn't have issues seeing past Lucas's and Alex's forms blocking the door; he looked over their heads and frowned sadly. Inserting himself between them and the scientist clamoring for a peek at the horror inside his expression became stoic and stern.

"I think you should go home now." he said his voice deep but gentle.

"We want to know what's going on!' Nick Reed demanded trying to peer around him.

"You should go." Dagwood insisted again, his voice firmer than before.

"We have a right to know what's happening!" Randall shouted. Dagwood took one step forward and uttered a throaty growl at them. Without another word, they all turned and left casting worried glances behind them; afraid he might follow and do more than growl. Once they rounded a bend in the corridor he edged in behind Lucas and Alex, quietly standing out of the way and looking on with a dismal expression.

Dr. Smith was in full emergency mode, calling out orders and dashing back and forth with a speed that in any other situation would have seemed inhuman. She tried everything she could, every ounce of medical knowledge she had ever learned and some she hadn't, trying to stop the seizure, contain the bleeding. Blood seeped from Sam's skin like liquid through cheesecloth. Her body was as rigid as a steel armature. No matter what Wendy did she couldn't stop it. She knew there was no way she could save her but she kept trying. It was all she could do.

Sam screamed again, the pain threaded wail stronger than ever. The renewed peel of agony shook Alex from her stupor and she cried out, bolting toward her friend and colleague blindly. Lucas and Dagwood made a grab for her at the same time, both catching an arm and stopping her from unintentionally placing herself in the way of Dr. Smith's work.

"No," Dagwood said apologetic and soft. She fought them, trying to wrench free and keep going but it was pointless. Had it just been Lucas who held her in place she couldn't have escaped, against both him and Dagwood she was as weak as a kitten with no claws.

"Let go! She's dying! Can't you see that?" she begged looking from Dagwood to Lucas and back again, her face pleading.

"I know," Dagwood answered his voice barely a sorrowful whisper, still holding firmly to her.

"Lucas, please!" she implored again, her eyes desperate.

"Alex..." he said shaking his head so gently it was almost imperceptible. "I'm sorry," he added, his eyes bright with threatening tears. She relented, relaxing in their grip, shaking her head in despair.

"No, no, not Sam," she murmured tears welling unbidden. Dagwood released her, stepping away as gently as he could. Lucas pulled her into his arms, holding her to him as she buried her face in his shoulder crying silently. All he could do was hold her and watch what he didn't want her to see and remember a time when it had been Captain Bridger keeping him from running to her.

The whine of the heart monitor declaring a flat line filled the room, followed by the repeated thump of the defibrillator, Wendy's voice called into the cacophony of noise but the sounds were muted to him. He knew it took only seconds but it seemed to take hours. He knew that no matter what Dr. Smith tried it wouldn't work. It was only a matter of formality, going through the motions to convince herself and everyone else she had done everything she possibly could. With each electrical charge, he felt Alex jerk against him as if it were her under the paddles and not Sam.

Finally it stopped. The heart monitor ceased its whining, the defibrillator no longer cracked with each jolt of energy and Wendy mournfully closed Sam's eyes and called time of death. He closed his eyes in sorrow and held Alex tighter as a harder wave of sobs racked her. Her crying the only sound to herald that this monstrosity had claimed its first victim.

**#**#**

By the time Captain Bridger made it to the medical bay to find out what was going on Lucas had managed to get Alex to sit down with him, his arms still wrapped protectively around her as she wept into his shoulder. Dr. Smith had had Samantha's body removed from the room, its presence too disturbing to endure and there was nothing but quiet. She would have dismissed the nurses, except that they were busy cleaning up the gore from the floor. Now she sat looking as despondent as they, her eyes wet with tears. Dagwood sat beside her, his arm draped around her shoulders consolingly.

"What the hell happened?" Nathan asked shocked by the amount of blood still pooled on the floor. He had no way of knowing half of it had already been mopped up. He looked from Lucas to Alex to Wendy to Dagwood. The grief in their eyes told him what he wanted to know. He sighed softly and clinched his own shut in bereavement.

"Sam." he whispered. Wendy looked up at him, eyes still glistening with tears and nodded solemnly.

"We lost her. There was nothing I could do, it all happened too fast. I tried everything I could."

Bridger stepped up beside the doctor squeezing her shoulder. "I know you did Wendy. We knew this was coming."

Wendy sniffled and nodded. She knew he was right. It wasn't as if she had never lost a patient before but each time it still hurt like it was the first. Being an empath meant that she actually felt her patients die. It shook her to the core every time she lived through it.

Quiet descended on them again. Alex hadn't bothered to look up from Lucas's shoulder. She still had her face buried there crying softly. The captain moved to her patting Lucas's and Dagwood's shoulders as he passed, giving them a look of shared pain. Both of them gave him a melancholy nod of acknowledgment as he passed. Kneeling in front of her, he placed a hand on her knee gently. Slowly she turned her head to look at him, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

"I'm sorry Alex. I know she was your friend," he offered. He knew it was cold comfort but it was all he had. She nodded at him sniveling and he gave her a tight forlorn smile. Of all of them, he and the senior crew were the only ones used to watching loved ones and friends die needlessly. If one could ever be said to have gotten used to it. He knew what it was to stand by helpless as someone died and he knew all he could do was offer what sympathy he could and let them work the rest out on their own. Now only time could heal the rift left behind. If they had any time left at all.

"I hate to be the barer of more bad news. We've tried to contact Dr. Ward and UEO headquarters. We can't get a call out at all. Something or someone is jamming our communications." he said finally rising to his feet.

"Have you tried the internex?" Lucas asked suspiciously. If their communications were suddenly being jammed, someone had a way of knowing where they were and probably why they were there. Somehow, whoever was responsible for this whole catastrophe knew that they knew and they knew they would try to seek help. They no longer had the element of surprise in their favor.

"Yes and we could get nothing. Maybe you can Lucas but we haven't been able to."

"Yes sir," Lucas nodded. Next to him, Alex sat unspeaking, presumably looking at a blank spot on the opposite wall. He wasn't sure she was even listening to what was being said.

"We've found a way to track the disbursement of the stem cells Nathan. Lucas is going to have to track a marker isotope tagged to the samples and backtrack it to where ever it has been sent. It's not much but it's something," Wendy informed him.

"It's more than we had. Alright, Lucas work on tracking that isotope down first. There won't be much point in being able to communicate if there's no one left to make the call in the first place. If you can get the internex up to do that we may be able to communicate anyway," Bridger said prioritizing things for them.

"How long?" Alex whispered her eyes still locked on that distant space before her.

"What?" Nathan asked barely able to hear her.

"How long before we reach the lab?" she asked again her voice raising just enough to be heard in the quiet of the medical bay. The nurses had left by now, leaving the floor with no evidence that a tragedy had occurred only a short while ago and leaving them alone in what was normally a small space. At the moment it felt like a vast, cold and empty chasm.

"If Lonnie has anything to say about it, two days. She's down in engineering tweaking everything she can get her hands on to get us there as fast as possible. Normally, at top speed, it would take three."

Alex nodded in acknowledgment again, sliding back into her own thoughts without a word, her expression unreadable. Lucas squeezed her shoulders gently, hoping it would lend some support. However little that might be.

"When we get communications back up I'll contact Samantha's parents and let them know what's happened." Bridger concluded with a sad sigh. Of all the duties he held as captain of the _seaQuest,_ this was the one he hated most. He knew all too well what it felt like to be told your child was dead and not even be offered a justifiable reason for it.

"I'll do it," Alex breathed softly finally looking at them when she spoke.

"No Alex, we need you to work on finding a way to control this...," Nathan paused looking for a word that fit. "...affliction."

"It's my responsibility. She was my research assistant and my friend. I should be the one to tell her parents," Alex reasoned shaking her head, her voice strained.

"Alex, do you like torturing yourself? You're already torn up by this; do you really need to force yourself to see her parents' faces when you tell them?" Nathan asked. Lucas and Wendy watched in silence, both of them sensing that something was being recapitulated that neither of them were privy too.

"Yes," she answered softly looking him in the eye.

"What am I supposed to do? Sit and twiddle my thumbs while you guys do all the work? There's nothing I can do until I can either communicate outside this boat, we get to that lab or we find a cure. Let me do my job Alex," he insisted gently but she shook her head again disagreeing.

"It's my fault and my responsibility," she insisted. Bridger snorted in exasperation.

"No. It's mine. Your responsibility is to find a way to save the people on this boat. I can't, Wendy can't, Lucas can't. You are the only one who as a chance of succeeding with their help. Until you do it's my responsibility as your captain and your friend to make sure you can do that," he said kindly but sternly. Alex started to open her mouth and protest but he cut her off.

"Remember what I said. This is not your fault. It's the fault of whoever decided that exposing innocent bystanders to those stem cells was a good idea. You pick up the pieces who ever that is has left behind and I'll pick up the ones you lose along the way. Okay?" he told her squeezing her shoulder in reassurance. Alex sighed and a weak smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Okay," she conceded. Lucas seemed to be the only one who caught the weight of one tiny thing Nathan had said. Bridger had said _your_ captain. He didn't think Alex had noticed the significance those two simple words carried. She was already a member of this crew, she always had been. Whether she realized it or not.


	21. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

By the next night, Lucas had indeed managed to gain access to the internex when no one else could. He had installed himself in one of the research labs alongside Alex, Wendy and their now much more cooperative and focused team. Sea deck didn't have the equipment they needed to work and the medical bay had filled nearly to capacity overnight. At least fifteen more crew members had fallen so ill they could no longer function at their jobs and had to hospitalized, bringing the count up to thirty, among them Miguel and Tony. Miguel was on oxygen and could barely breathe on his own, Tony had to be given such a high dose of pain killers he was delirious due to the excruciating pain in his head.

Other members of the bridge crew were starting to show symptoms as well. Henderson had developed what looked like a harmless rash. Dagwood's persistent sweating had developed into a fever of a hundred and seven, if he had not been a GELF he would have been confined to medical bay along with the others but a model K had a normal body temperature higher than a regular human already and so there was no need to panic, yet. Despite his illness, he still insisted on helping where he could, mostly running errands or fetching meals for the science team. By now he knew what was happening to the others and to him but he valiantly pressed on and as long as he was capable of doing what they asked they didn't dare refuse the help he could give them. They were losing manpower too fast to make allowances when someone could still function.

Lucas had begun to experience mild dizzy spells but he wasn't sure if that was a symptom of stem cell exposure or the fact he had been awake all night. They all had been. Alex had become so irritable and focused on finding anything that resembled a cure that she snapped at the others without provocation more than once. Several members of the team were even showing mild symptoms of illness. Time seemed to be running out faster than they could work.

Everyone was on edge, feeling the pressure of impending doom and their own mortality. The team knew now exactly how dire their situation was and how little hope of success they had. It seemed to drive them to work harder and faster than he had ever seen scientists do before but so far, everything they had tried had come to nothing. Not a single thing they attempted even slowed down the stem cells and they still hadn't been able to identify what the catalyst was or where it had come from.

While Lucas had managed to gain access to the internex it hadn't reinstated communications. Whoever was jamming them had managed to stop all outgoing data. He could access what data already existed like Gen-Med's isotope marker database but he couldn't send anything new out. If he had the time he was sure he could have found a way to subvert it but he had to focus on finding out how wide spread the stem cells exposure was, so far he had made significant progress and thought he was nearly there. The lead he had been following for the last six hours looked promising and he had almost reached its outlet.

Wendy was with the captain giving him an updated on their progress or their lack thereof by the time Lucas actually reached that outlet. More than once his attention had wandered to the same thing he knew they must all be thinking. What if we fail? He kept slipping one hand into his pocket to caress the velvet square he had stowed there as if it were a lucky charm and wondered if he would ever get the chance to use what it contained. The elation he had felt that he could go ahead with his plan unhindered was now tempered by the realization that he might never be able to.

Lucas found what he was looking for only minutes before Tim's voice called over the comm system. He and Alex were standing over the computer console trying to prove that what he had found was wrong while the rest of the team continued trying to decide where and what the catalyst was. The scope and implications of what he had found were too mortifying to consider and yet they couldn't disprove it.

They were so focused on what it was they were working on none of them noticed Darwin kept swimming by through an adjacent aqua tube trying to get their attention. If the vocoder had been in the room they would have heard him repeating the same phrase from earlier.

"In the water!" he called in vain, frantic to be heard but no one paid attention as he swam away again intent on finding someone who would.

"Lucas and Alex to the bridge immediately," O'Neill said the unease in his voice evident even over the synthesized sound of the speakers. Sick with the knowledge they carried Lucas and Alex made their way to the bridge fearful of what else they might learn when they got there.

**#**#**

Sliding through the bridge doors, they went unnoticed by anyone save Bridger. Everyone else present had their eyes riveted to the screen in front of them.

"The news is on. Come listen," Bridger prompted them motioning them to stand with him in the center of the bridge. Lucas tried to tell him they had something more pressing than the nightly news but he waved them off.

"This is important. Listen you two," he insisted. Their news would just have to wait until after Nancy Sanders finished her report for World News Net.

"The UEO has made it clear that Alexandria Northman and Samantha Collins had no part in the slaying of the two police officers or the two delivery men from Gen-Med found murdered earlier this week. It has been brought to our attention that Ms. Northman and Ms. Collins were made victims of the perpetrators of these crimes themselves. We have been assured that both of them are safely on board _seaQuest DSV_ and in good hands. No further information on who the real criminals are or what they hoped to gain from killing these men and implicating these two innocent women in their atrocious crimes was available."

Alex glared at the screen with unveiled hatred whispering to herself.

"They didn't implicate us you bitch, you did. Sam's in real good hands alright."

Lucas did a double take when he heard it, Alex rarely used language that coarse and something this petty didn't usually anger her enough to provoke it. She had been short tempered and crass most of the day and he was beginning to wonder if it was the pressure they were under or something else.

"We sincerely hope they are both doing well and wish Ms. Northman every happiness in adopting the children affected by the actions of Dr. Ryan Sanborn," the reporter continued her voice so sugary sweet it made Lucas's stomach turn. Alex rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"In other news tonight a record number of people, more than two thousand on the southeast coast alone, have been hospitalized over the last twenty four hours. The CDC has said they don't believe that the sudden rise in illness poses a risk to the general public since none of the individuals presenting with sickness seem to be exhibiting the same symptoms. The UEO has said they will investigate and keep us up to date on anything that the public might need to know. Back to you Jack." Nancy Sanders finished, giving short shrift to what hit Lucas and Alex like a ton of bricks. If the information hadn't hit them so hard they both would have been annoyed that the woman had spent five minutes on the report about Alex and Sam and only a minute on the one that should have been the topic of the night. What people considered newsworthy had become very skewed.

Alex collapsed into the captain's chair shaking her head, wide eyed at the screen as the news played on. Lucas felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach.

"God no," she muttered her jaw slack with shock. Wendy's head swiveled around and locked on Alex and Lucas like she was part owl, deep concern filling her eyes as she felt the wave of unease coming off of them.

"Alex calm down. It's two thousand people but we still have a chance," Ford admonished, not understanding. Bridger wasn't as quick to judge.

"What's wrong Alex?" he asked his attention finally on what they had to say pulling the crew's attention to them along with his own.

"We found out how the stem cells were distributed Captain. It was the Sahelian Virus vaccine. This has been lying dormant for sixteen years," Lucas explained pointing at the screen. Bridger looked as horrified as they were as the implications of what they were saying sank in.

"Are you sure?" Wendy asked unable to believe what she was hearing even if she knew they were sure beyond a shadow of a doubt.

"Positive. Dr. Ward is the only one who has been at that facility long enough to have done this. He has to be the one responsible. For whatever reason he hid the stem cells in the vaccine until now," Lucas assured her.

There had been no question about the information from the isotope tag, there was no chance he was wrong about how the stem cells had been spread. He wished there was. Right now he'd have given just about anything to have been wrong for once in his life.

"The second set of DNA was to cover the other's tracks. Sixteen years ago nothing we had was technologically advanced enough to discern between them. It would have made a perfect cover. There isn't a human alive who hasn't gotten that vaccine," Alex pointed out.

"What about the catalyst? Have you found anything about it yet? If it's relatively contained we have a chance of controlling the spread if we can warn the UEO." Nathan asked. Both of them shook their heads no sadly.

Darwin had followed them to the bridge his silver head shoved as far out of his tank as he could get it and still stay inside. He slapped the water hard with his tail and spoke loudly, choosing that moment to make himself heard.

"In the water!" he insisted, frustration in his computerized voice. They all paused to look at him briefly.

"Not now Darwin. Maybe later," Wendy told him gently, thinking he meant for someone to get in the water with him to play. He shook his head desperate to be understood.

"No! Now! In the water!" he said again. The force of the statement made it a command and Nathan knew something was bothering the dolphin, so did Lucas. Both leaned over the edge of his pool Alex and Wendy crowding behind them to hear.

"What is it buddy?" Bridger asked rubbing the underside of Darwin's beak gently.

"Bad water. Make people sick. Bad water!" he tried to explain. They all looked at him perplexed, trying to understand exactly what he meant. Had the stem cells been released into the sea?

"What do you mean Darwin?" Lucas asked in that deep soft tone of his.

"Something in the water!"

"The catalyst Darwin? Is that it?" Alex asked dread creeping over her as she said it, praying he said no.

"Yes!" he affirmed nodding his head vigorously. They all looked at one another hopelessness their eyes.

"If the catalyst is in the water, if it's spread widely enough, this isn't going to kill a few thousand, it's going to kill millions," Alex added driving the point home like a knife to the gut. No one spoke, no one breathed, and the only sound around them was the hum of the news on the screen and the steady beeping of the sonar. The whole world had just come to screeching, crashing halt.


	22. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

With the lives of millions hanging in the balance, there was not a member of the crew who could stand who was not trying to help in one way or another. The certainty of death seemed to spur them all on to new heights of achievement. None of them seemed to matter.

Lonnie had jury rigged, over clocked, cross wired, hot-rodded and bypassed every component of _seaQuest's_ propulsion system until the hall ways looked like they were covered in LED lit snakes and she still couldn't get them there any faster than the following night. Her rash was spreading and beginning to fester but she refused to let it stop her. She kept working and tried to ignore the fact that she would likely be dead before a cure could be found.

At least Lucas thought she meant the following night. She could have meant tonight. They had been working so long and so hard he wasn't sure if morning had come and gone without him noticing. His dizzy spells had gotten worse but not so bad he couldn't work as he fought to reestablish communications. It was absolutely vital that he get communications back online now so the UEO could be warned about the catalyst and the danger it posed. He hid the dizziness from Alex. He didn't want her to know he might be affected already, not when she was the one leading the fight. Someone had to stand behind her and be there to catch her when she fell and he was determined it would be him. But he knew Wendy had noticed.

Alex had become increasingly crass and short tempered, snapping more and more often at those around her and he no longer thought it was just the pressure she was under to save them all. He thought she had begun to be affected by the stem cells and refused to admit it, either because she didn't want to scare him or because she didn't want to scare herself...or both.

It didn't stop her from working as hard as the rest of them though. She threw herself into it with as much force and determination as any of them, expertly leading the way for the rest, giving direction and trying to keep them moving forward as they searched for a cure.

Every system the ship didn't need had been sent off line to provide as much power to the engines as possible. That meant most of the ship was dark except where the light was absolutely necessary to work. Life support had been cut to minimal levels on several decks forcing people to bunk with others as they moved from their own quarters to avoid the sweltering heat that ensued after air conditioning was cut from their deck. The only deck that had full systems was the one med bay and the research lab Lucas, Alex and Wendy had appropriated was on.

Twenty more people had fallen ill within the last few hours and med bay had over flowed its capacity. Now twenty three percent of the crew was too ill to function and they had begun converting every available space they could into patient care rooms with those showing the least symptoms helping to care for those who were so far gone they could no longer do it for themselves. Among those being cared for was Dagwood, he had finally succumbed to the fever that threatened to overwhelm him. Nick Reed and Angie Walker had joined him within an hour, leaving the team short two members. Somewhere out there in the chaos Wendy was helping tend to the fallen.

Sweat drenched people drifted through the darkness like the phantoms they might soon become. Through it all there was a depressing and dismal quiet. Everyone talked in hushed tones as if they were afraid to speak any louder lest the grim reaper find them first. The inside of the ship looked like the seventh circle of hell and Lucas dreaded finding out what the ninth would look like.

Even though they knew where the catalyst was, they couldn't find it. Alex had been testing and retesting seawater samples and none of them could find anything.

"He said it was in the water but there's nothing there!" Alex complained in frustration casting a slide of seawater into a growing pile of discarded ones with a tinkle of glass.

"Maybe he didn't mean sea water," Brody observed from his post on a nearby stool. As one of the few members of the bridge crew not showing symptoms yet, he had been lending a hand anywhere he could. Half the time he had no idea why he was doing what he was doing but he followed orders without question knowing the people giving those orders did know. He was taking a break from rerouting cables for Lucas from one computer panel to one across the lab and could see Alex was ready to tear her hair out because she couldn't find what she was looking for.

"He said it was in the water Jim," She snapped at him crossly, her temper flaring again for no reason.

"Ever think of drinking decaf?" he asked brushing it off, very little flustered or riled Brody. She glared at him in response.

"You can't see the forest for the trees Alex. If I was going to kill that many people with a biological weapon I wouldn't put the catalyst in sea water. No one drinks it. I'd put it in our main water supply."

Lucas had stopped what he was doing to listen to the exchange. His hands cramped from twisting wires together and reconfiguring so many components. They needed the rest anyway.

"Yeah but that doesn't explain why the crew is getting sick. We don't get our water from a water treatment plant, we filter and process sea water instead," Alex rebutted.

"Yes we do. But we also have a lot of prepackaged food on board. Sodas, tea, food made and packaged before we get it and the companies that make those _do_ use water from treatment plants," Jim countered. Alex gaped at him, he was the last person she would have expected to get vital information about a biologically engineered weapon from, he had just found what she couldn't see, and she was supposed to be the one whose specialty it was! She knew he was right, now she remembered Sam spilling a glass of water when she had been examining the stem cells. It must have been then that the catalyst had come in contact with the stem cells she already harbored from the Sahelian Virus vaccine. The fact that the contact had also triggered the stem cells they had received in error had just been a coincidence.

"What I don't understand is how Darwin knew that. It's not like he comes in contact with freshwater very often," Jim added.

"It wouldn't be the first time Darwin has seemed to know something he shouldn't have been able to. Sometimes he just knows and none of us can tell you why," Lucas answered.

**#**#**

Alex had wasted no time in getting her hands on as many containers of bottled water as she could. She had the team divided into two groups, one trying to find something that kept the activated stem cells from progressing and another to identify what the catalyst was. Once they knew where to find it, figuring out what didn't belong came far easier than they expected.

"I've got it!" yelled Randall from across the room. Alex craned around to look in his direction before dashing to his side like a shot. Lucas dropped his work on the communications repairs and joined her. He was nearly done; a few more adjustments and they would be able to communicate with the outside world again. If they had finally found out what the catalyst was they might have some good news to impart when they did.

"Look for yourself. It's so simple it's no wonder no one noticed it before now," Randall said stepping out of the way so Alex could see. The rest of the team had crowded in behind them hoping to see it too even though the microscope only allowed one person at a time to see through its viewer.

"My god, no wonder. It's a polypeptide, a chain of amino acids that make proteins. That's why we found elevated proteins in the blood samples. And this one is engineered. No one would have even thought to screen these out if they even knew they were there," Alex said her face buried in the eyepiece of the microscope. Lucas felt a twinge of hope tug at him and the smile Alex turned on him showed she shared it too.

"Congratulations Randall. Thanks to you, we just might have a chance of finding a cure for this. If we can find a way to deactivate the polypeptide and keep it from starting the process to begin with we may be able to stop it," Alex praised him, while his colleagues clapped him on the back so hard he swayed in place. Randall Smith looked nothing like the curmudgeon he had come to the team as, now he beamed with well-deserved pride.

"You guys get to work on it, look for anything that slows it down. I've got to tell the Captain." Alex said turning to bolt for the door with Lucas in tow behind her.

"Tell me what?" Nathan's voice cut through the clamor of babbled discussion that broke out as the remaining four members of the team began brainstorming ideas. He had just come through the door to check on their progress and found them all giddy with their discovery.

"We found the catalyst and I've almost got communications back up!" Lucas enthused as he made his way over to them. Nathan's gait was shaky and hesitant but he forced a smile on his face anyway hiding his own problems before either of them could notice in their exuberance.

"Good work all of you. Now go get some sleep."

"What? We can't sleep now. We have to find something to stop this, at least something to slow it down," Ian Miller protested, his wife had already become too ill to work and he was desperate to find a way to save her. Bridger shook his head as the others added their voices to the dissent.

"You have all been up for twenty four hours. If you don't get some rest now you are going to collapse on your feet and then where will we be?" he said looking at each of them. They all looked like hell. Dark circles under their eyes, limp hair and slumped postures. He wondered when they had eaten last, without someone to shove food at them, they had probably forgotten it completely. If they didn't stop now they would all join their crew mates in the medical bay from exhaustion before the stem cells ever had a chance to do anything to them.

"But Captain if we don't keep working people will die. We might be able to save them! We can't just stop when we're this close!" Alex pleaded.

"If you keep working you might miss the answer right in front of your noses. You could even make a mistake and make things worse. Finish the work on the communications relays and get some rest. That is an order," Nathan insisted placing a steadying hand on Alex's shoulder as she wobbled where she stood. She didn't seem to even notice it.

"No," she defied. The captain looked at her wide-eyed and Lucas felt his jaw fall open. Alex was hard headed but he had never heard her directly defy the captain before. She respected him too much.

"No? Are you disobeying a direct order?" he asked sternly. He knew she was determined to find a cure, even become driven to the point of obsession because of Sam's death but she was so focused she couldn't see outside her own field of vision.

"If I have to. We have to keep working Captain. We don't know how much of our water supply has been contaminated, how wide spread this could be," she told him firmly. "Please?" she added pleading.

"I understand. I really do Alex. But if you don't follow orders I _will_ have Wendy come in here and sedate every one of you," he told her in no uncertain terms, leaving her no choice.

"Fine," she said grudgingly, leaving Nathan and Lucas to be astounded by her sudden change in personality.


	23. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Of the bridge crew only four hadn't begun to show symptoms of exposure to the stem cells and Bridger wasn't entirely sure Lucas and Alex hadn't already begun to. He had heard reports that Lucas had been experiencing increasing dizzy spells and Alex was as short tempered as a bull full of spears facing down a matador in an old fashioned, and now illegal, bull fight. Whatever came to mind she said with absolutely no regard for who she was saying it to, up to and including attempting to disobey a direct order from him. That left Commander Ford, Brody and O'Neill unscathed. Still healthy they had gone where their services were needed most after much prodding on his part, leaving him here.

Nathan stood alone on the bridge thinking. He had taken a minute to recoup himself and ensure the ship stayed on course. Their helmsman had been taken to med bay less than thirty minutes ago covered in boils. Attempts to communicate up world had been in vain. Despite having the ability to he had not been able to contact anyone who knew what was going on or could direct him to someone who could help. UEO headquarters had become chaos central and all the training in the world didn't seem to hold with the personnel. No one seemed to know where Secretary General McGath or Admiral Noyce were.

One by one, he was losing his crew, his family, to this atrocity that Dr. Ward had created and no one even knew why the man had done it. For years, Dr. Ward had done nothing but strive to save lives, to find a treatment for the virus that had taken his son's life. It was something he understood far too well. What had gone so wrong that he had instead decided to kill so many?

Yes, they had found the catalyst and yes, they might have a chance of finding a cure. They even had communications back but time was against them. Even if they could find a cure, they might already be too late to stop it. If they were showing symptoms they might become too ill to find the cure before it killed them.

He hadn't had the heart to tell Alex and Lucas that. They had grabbed the discovery of the catalyst as if it was the last hope of survival in a torrential sea. He knew it would dawn on them once they weren't so tired they were running on nothing but adrenaline but he couldn't jerk away the tiny shred of hope they had so soon.

Even in the dim light of the bridge, the captain looked pale and his frame shook, trembling. Nathan Hale Bridger didn't tremble. He was the rock everyone else clung to when the tide got rough. Now the rock was as vulnerable as the rest of them. The trembling wasn't fear or grief; it wasn't even fury at being powerless to stop any of this. It was the first symptoms of stem cell exposure. He couldn't control it no matter how hard he tried. He hid it from the crew for as long as he could knowing seeing their captain succumb to the same threat they faced would do little to keep their morale up and their hope alive but it wasn't long before Dr. Smith noticed it. He wondered if it was his state of mind that had brought her here. Had she been able to tell he felt as hopeless as the crew did even with his walls up?

She found him standing there gripping the back of his chair while his knees knocked and threatened to buckle beneath him. She didn't look any better than he did. Her normally bright blue eyes had a milky haze to them and the lids were puffy and shadowed with faint bruises. When she reached to touch his arm, she missed before finding it. He realized she was beginning to go blind.

"We aren't going to make it are we?" he asked her as she linked her arm with his carefully. He didn't have to look at her to know her mouth turned down in a sadden frown. He stared out at the vast ocean they sailed through and felt like they were somehow abandoned all alone in a blue, unforgiving void that had no compassion to answer the cries of the dying and grief stricken.

"Maybe we will," she told him with unfettered optimism as she gazed out at the same blue vastness. He smiled in spite of himself.

"You really amaze me Wendy," he laughed completely befuddled by her ability to still believe they might make it. Unlike Alex and Lucas she had no allusions about succeeding. She knew how slim their chances of survival really were.

"Do I? Well, wonders never cease… do they?" she answered before she patted his arm and gave him that knowing smile. It was the same one she had given him years ago in the hydroponics lab when he had been worried about Lucas's latest hair brained idea to run off with Sandra Kirby. Then, like now, she had used his own words to make her point and give him the little boost of hope he needed when he least expected it. He couldn't give up hope yet.

**#**#**

Lucas and Alex woke to the sensation of being shaken. Alex tried to bury herself further into his arms to hide from it and Lucas swatted at the annoyance. Neither of them were coherent enough to realize it was a person doing the shaking.

"Come on you two wake up."

The shaking started again more vigorously than before.

"Go away," Lucas croaked wishing whatever it was would stop. He was so tired all he wanted to do was sleep. Beside him, Alex moaned in agreement.

"I'm sorry Lucas but you have to get up. We're nearly there," the voice said. In the depths of sleep, the voice sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. The abyss of unconsciousness tugged at his mind again and the face that went with the voice refused to show itself.

"Alex come on. Lucas wake up or I'm going to start singing Gregorian chants in Cantonese and I can't sing very well."

That remark meant the voice could only belong to Tim O'Neill. No one else would have made such an obscure threat. Lucas forced himself to wake enough to roll over making a disgruntled Alex groan and clutch at the blankets in an effort to remain asleep.

"You could always try singing 'My Girl' again," he shot back his eyes blinking against the light that filled the room.

"The last time we did that Lonnie threatened to drive us into a cliff remember?" Tim reminded him. Lucas pulled himself up onto his elbows and squinted at Tim's bespectacled face as his eyes adjusted to the light.

"Yeah she did," he grinned. "How long were we asleep?" he asked yawning and shaking Alex.

"Six hours. The Captain said he'd throw anyone who woke you before then in the brig himself," Tim chuckled.

"Five more minutes," Alex mumbled.

"Wake up, wake up Alex. Come on, wake up sweetheart," he prodded her gently. Grunting her displeasure, she pried her eyes open then shut them against the glaring light, peering at him from one eye. Raising her head to look around her slightly disoriented, she noticed Tim.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked confused about his presence.

"You left the door unlocked," he answered.

"Don't you know how to knock?" she grumbled indignantly as she managed to sit up cross-legged on the mattress.

"I did, for five minutes and before that I tried to get you on the comm," Tim defended. Unable to think of a comeback she glowered at him instead.

"She's not a morning person," Lucas explained.

"It's almost lunch time. Maybe coffee would make her more pleasant?" Tim offered indicating a pot that sat already made on a nearby counter with cups waiting to be filled.

"Thanks Tim," Lucas said smiling at him.

"He can keep the damn coffee," Alex spat as she crawled out of the bed over Lucas. He was forced to scramble out of the way to keep from being stepped on.

"Maybe I should have brought a three course breakfast too?" Tim shot affronted at her tone. Lucas followed her as she stalked across the room and yanked the closet door open to rummage through it for clothes, his hand clutched to his head as the room spun around him. The dizzy spells hadn't gone away with rest and what that meant scared him.

"Alex, don't you think that was kind of rude?" he asked. She craned her head over her shoulder and looked at him angrily.

"Do I look like I care?"

"What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me. I don't like people barging into my room without permission." she said testily, snatching a shirt and pants from the closet and slamming the door before stomping back across the room.

"Alex this isn't like you. Tim was trying to be nice. We're all on edge. You could have said thank you," Lucas argued. This was not the Alex he knew. She sighed dropping the clothes on the bed.

"I'm sorry. You're right. I'm just tired and ... and I don't know what I am," she said massaging her brow in frustration.

"Tim I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"Don't worry about it," he said brushing it off, though his tone was still a little dejected.

"We're almost to Mendel Lab. We should be there in about an hour," he added changing the topic.

"I thought we wouldn't be there until tonight?" Lucas asked.

"We wouldn't have been but Lonnie stayed up all night and managed to cut half a day off our time. We're going almost twice our top speed," Tim explained looking down at his hands and studying the creases there suddenly.

"Tim?" Lucas prodded thinking there was more to what he had said.

"Lonnie's in medical bay Lucas. Her skin is coming off in sheets. Ian Miller and Randall Smith slipped into comas while they were asleep. Miguel is on a respirator, they are saying Tony has lapsed into seizures and Dagwood's temperature is so high they don't know why he isn't dead yet. Forty percent of the crew is incapable of taking care of themselves. We lost six people while you were asleep. Captain Bridger has been trying to contact UEO headquarters since communications came back up. He can't get through to anyone who knows what's going on up there. It's chaos," he said hesitantly.

Lucas and Alex both flinched at the news. They had known it was only a matter of time before it happened but it didn't make the reality of it any easier to swallow. Tim looked like he might be on the verge of tears.

"If you're going to find a cure Alex you better do it fast."

"We will Tim. I swear to god we will."

The promise didn't seem to help his outlook on things, he still looked despondent. Slowly but surely they were losing everyone they called friend.

Alex did the only thing that came to mind. Later she wouldn't have been able to say what had made her do it but at that moment it felt like the right thing to do. She stepped forward and hugged him holding him tightly. She pulled Lucas into the hug and they stood that way for a long time before any of them felt like they could let go.

**#**#**

Clean, fed and dressed per captain's orders, Lucas and Alex presented themselves on the bridge five minutes before they were scheduled to reach Mendel Lab. Alex had replaced her vial necklace and kept toying with it as if had become the lucky charm that he had made the object in his pocket. He couldn't blame her. Right now they needed every ounce of luck they could get.

The bridge was sparsely lit but it was as busy a flurry of activity as it ever was. The only thing that set it apart from any other day on _seaQuest_ was that the people manning the stations were not those they knew so well. Now they were being operated by people they knew only casually and the tone it set, what the absence of the regular crew meant, hit home hard.

Now only they, Wendy, Brody, Ford, Tim and the captain remained. Nathan and Wendy both looked like they wouldn't be part of the working team for much longer. The captain didn't even try to get up to greet them; his muscles wouldn't have supported him if he had tried. Wendy's eyes were almost completely filmed with cataracts and she depended more on sound than sight to know where they were as they entered.

"We'll be there any minute," Nathan said trying to look cheerful about it and failing miserably.

"Captain, do you think you should be here? Shouldn't you be in the medical bay?" Lucas asked concerned. It was very disturbing to see the man he looked up to like a father sitting there as frail as an autumn leaf.

"Shouldn't you?" Nathan countered as Lucas swayed slightly with another wave of dizziness.

"You don't have to be so smug about it," Lucas grimaced in dark humor.

"As long as my mind works I'm not going anywhere kiddo."

Lucas grinned and placed a hand on the captain's shoulder careful to watch the weight of it.

"How are you feeling Alex?" Bridger asked.

"Me? Just a little on edge is all," she insisted a little more forcefully than was called for. Lucas thought she was finally admitting to herself that she was being affected just like the rest of them. He knew why she didn't want to admit it. If she couldn't find a cure for them before she fell victim to the sickness they would never find one in time.

"Are you sure about that?" Wendy asked, turning white eyes on her. The sensation it caused was chilling.

"I'm fine!" Alex barked sharply refusing to admit to them that her short temper might be the result of something more serious than a lack of sleep and stress.

"You don't act fine," Commander Ford muttered under his breath as he keyed through something on his chair's console. Alex shot him an irritated glance but kept her tongue.

"We're coming up on Mendel Laboratory now Captain," a young, scared looking ensign called from the helm station. The young man had probably never encountered anything like what he found himself in the middle of now. The fact that he was still able to follow orders and hold his fear of what was happening around him in check spoke strongly of the officer he was becoming.

"Put it on the forward screen Ensign."

The screen flickered to life and they looked out on Mendel Laboratory stretched out before them as they drifted toward it. It was dark as a graveyard. None of the lights that should have shone from outside the station were on and by the amount of coral that had begun to over grow the lower structural supports no one had conducted maintenance for some time.

"I thought you said this place was state of the art," Ford said.

"It is. Something is wrong," Lucas answered as he vaulted up to his station. He keyed through screens and diagrams for a minute before throwing up his hands in exasperation.

"I'm getting life signs but whatever Dr. Ward used to jam our communications is keeping me from getting an accurate reading. There should be seventy-five people over there. There's no reason it should be like this."

"Hail them Mr. O' Neill," Bridger ordered. Tim tried several times and shook his head as confused as the rest of them.

"Nothing Captain. They aren't responding."

"We're going to have to go over there," Brody said.

"You're right. We have to find out why this place is dead in the water. Take a team and see what you can find out," Bridger agreed. They needed Dr. Ward and whatever information he might be able to provide to help stop the mess he had caused.

"Yes sir," Brody said getting out of his chair to leave. Alex had been quiet watching the screen with her arms crossed, her bottom lip caught in her teeth thinking.

"I'm going with you."

"I beg your pardon?" Nathan stammered at her. She was taking liberties she didn't have, with his command.

"Captain, that place is at a standstill. No one will answer us and we don't have time to waste trying to find out why. Dr. Ward created this abomination maybe he knows how to stop it," she explained her voice perfectly logical and calm.

"And if he is they will bring him back. You need to stay here and keep looking for a cure Alex," Nathan countered. Lucas clambered down to join them, his brow furrowed with worry. They were in enough danger as it was, he had no desire for Alex to go off on some ill-conceived mission and never come back.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked gripping her arm firmly.

"Trying to save our lives. Captain it makes sense that if Ward made this he also made a cure for it. Everyone got that vaccine, there have to be people he wanted to live who have no idea what he's doing, otherwise he would have been found out before now. He would have to have one to make sure they stayed alive after exposure. Sanborn blew up one facility and nearly did it to a second. What makes you think he won't do the same thing?" she reasoned.

"Alex, you're needed here," Bridger argued.

"If he already has a cure it would save a lot more lives than if I stay on board trying to find one. Sarah and Allen are perfectly capable of doing the same work I would right now, my expertise won't become vital for a little while yet, but if he has a cure over there and he won't give it to us I'm the only one who knows what to look for. If he decides to blow the place up you're going to need someone who doesn't have to wonder if they grabbed the right thing," she told him.

"You'll get yourself killed! Who's going to find a cure for this if you're wrong?" Lucas said fearfully. He didn't want to take any more of a chance he would lose her than he had to and this fell in the anymore category. The odds they were going to die were high enough as it was.

"If I do, it probably won't matter anyway Lucas. Nearly half the crew is incapacitated. At this rate even if I work nonstop I may not be able to find a cure in time. It's a long shot but this is the best option we have right now," Alex said pleading with him to understand.

"How can you be so sure he has one?" Ford asked.

"I can't but it's what I would do," she stated. Nathan sighed heavily and just gazed at her for a long moment.

"I hate to admit it but she's right. Put that way we don't really have a choice," he said reluctantly.

"I'm going," Lucas said with conviction. He had no intention of being left behind if he could help it.

"We're going to need someone who knows their way around computers, I have no idea what kind of safe guards we'll run into over there," Brody put in.

"Alright. Go. But Commander Ford and Brody are in charge understood?" Nathan assented.

"Yes sir." They both answered.

"When did you learn so much about tactics Alex?" Nathan asked as they turned to go. She grinned, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Too much time spent around you Captain. I think it's beginning to rub off," she laughed.

"I'll take that as a compliment."


	24. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Lucas and Alex stood with their small team of four and wondered what exactly had been happening at Mendel Laboratory. They had taken a sea speeder instead of a launch in order to utilize its ability to laser dock after Lucas's initial examination of the station schematics had shown that none of the docking bays worked. All of them had been sealed shut.

With the amount of ruckus they had caused cutting a way into one of the lower emergency access docks they had all been sure it would attract attention but no one had come running to prevent their entry. Once inside it had become very obvious that not only had external maintenance been neglected, so had internal. A thin layer of dust lay over everything in sight. Corrosion and rust had begun to overtake many of the mechanical elements and the lone mini sub docked inside had been gutted, rendering it inoperable.

"Someone needs to fire the housekeeper around here," Brody quipped as they looked around, a pulse rifle slung over his shoulder.

"Either no one has been down here in a very long time or this was sealed off for a reason," Lucas said adjusting his pulse bolt vest and the satchel holding his minicomputer so he could examine the operations consoles lining the walls. They were all dark and looked like they hadn't been used in sometime.

"That or no one was supposed to be able to leave. That mini sub wasn't just disassembled it was torn apart," Ford said keeping his own rifle at the ready.

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm going to wish I had stayed on the boat before this is over?" Alex asked under her breath as she turned on the portable light hooked to her pulse bolt vest. It was dark inside the docking bay not even the auxiliary lighting was working. Like Lucas she carried a satchel but hers was empty in case she found anything that might help them with their work on the stem cells, she hoped what she found was a cure.

"It was your idea to come along." Ford observed testing the handle that should have cycled the inner docking bay doors open. It grated and whined in protest but the doors stayed closed.

"Yeah I know me and my big mouth."

"We might as well see what else doesn't work around here," Brody said as he added his weight to the door lever. With both of them forcing the handle, it finally gave with a screech of rusted metal and the doors opened half way.

Jonathan peered out of the doorway cautiously, waving for the others to follow. They crept through the narrow space into the corridor beyond with Jim bringing up the rear. Because they were entering by one of the emergency docking bays, the hallway lacked the interior walls that camouflaged all the wires and pipes that ran along them. The passage was damp and the pipe work overhead dripped intermittently where leaks had broken through the oxidized metal. It came as no surprise that none of the utility lights mounted along the framework were in operation.

Ford, Lucas and Jim switched on their lights before they all quietly eased down the passage, careful to be on the lookout for guards but they found no one as they moved further on. Every step echoed in the stillness. Eventually the corridor ended in a closed maglev door. Lucas tried to access it by jacking his minicomputer into the access panel outside it but all power had been cut to it.

"We're going to have to take one of the maintenance ladders up to the next level. This is dead as a door nail," he said as he replaced the computer in his bag.

"Why would anyone disable their emergency exits?" Ford asked rhetorically as they started up a nearby ladder single file.

"Maybe something happened to the personnel," Alex said as she hefted herself up the rungs.

"Yeah I bet something happened alright," Brody retorted below her.

As they clambered off the ladder into the passageway above it, they found things even more odd than before. This hall bore the camouflaging walls of a regular hallway but the only evidence that anyone had ever been here were the blinking security lights placed every few yards.

"Well at least we know they have some power," Lucas said.

"But where is everyone?" Alex asked looking down both sides of the corridor into the dimness beyond.

"I don't know but I have a feeling we aren't going to like it when we find out," Ford answered as they started down the passage.

**#**#**

They found several doors and checked to see what lay behind them but they found nothing of any use. Mostly storage rooms, a pantry and further on the start of residential quarters. More often than not, the doors had to be pried open because they refused to respond to their keypads.

After they had traveled up two more levels and found nothing but more of the same Commander Ford stopped in the middle of the hall in disbelief.

"This is getting ridiculous. Lucas you said you read life signs down here. They have to know we're here by now."

"Yeah but I couldn't get an accurate reading."

"We should have run into someone by now."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Come on let's keep moving."

They kept going cautiously along finding the first evidence that anyone had even been inside the station recently as they rounded a corner. A ceiling panel above them had been ripped out, trailing live wires and exposing the pipes overhead.

"Well someone is here. They've tried to rewire something up there," Lucas said pointing at the snarl of wires. Several of the loose ones snaked and sparked on the floor snapping with electricity.

"Yeah but who?" Brody asked as they edged along the wall careful to avoid the electrified wires. Something creaked and snapped sending a large pipe crashing down as Alex made her way through the tangle.

"Alex!" Lucas yelled in warning. She looked up in time to see it hurtling toward her head and shrieked in alarm. Jonathan snatched her from under the heavy cylinder just before it landed where she had been.

Panting heavily from fright she leaned against the wall until she could catch her breath.

"That was close. Thanks," she breathed eying the object of her near demise.

"What are friends for?" he said with an encouraging smile and a pat on her shoulder.

"You okay?" Lucas asked worriedly pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said nodding her heart still pounding in her chest.

More careful than ever they made their way along. Lucas walking closer than the narrow space called for, one hand out as if to snatch Alex away if anything else happened. Every room they found was just like all the others. Empty and unused, they had still not found anyone to account for the botched wiring.

Alex was attempting to gain access to another door while the others did the same with those nearby.

"Hey this one works!" she called as it slid open at her command. Peering inside she immediately wished she hadn't and jumped back away from the room.

"Jesus!" she exclaimed burying her nose and mouth in her elbow. The others crowded behind her to see what was going on and recoiled at the stench emanating from the open door. The smell of decomposition coming from the fifteen odd bodies piled inside was nauseating.

"I think we found some of the employees," Jim said his nose wrinkled in disgust.

Commander Ford eased into the room with the collar of his shirt tugged up over his nose. The others followed checking the bodies over for signs of what had killed them. Several had died of disease, by Alex's guess, probably stem cell exposure. But the rest had been murdered, some of them bludgeoned to death, others shot with pulse guns.

"I think we can safely say Dr. Ward did this," Lucas said as they exited the room and shut the door behind them. Thankful for the clean air they could breathe with it closed. His tone was casual and academic but the horrified expression on his face stood in stark contrast. If Dr. Ward had begun killing off his own employees what else had he done? Had they tried to expose him or were they innocent victims of his initial experiments with the stem cells? What kind of a mad man were they dealing with?

"Probably, but why? Without personnel to maintain the facility, it would become untenable within a few weeks. If he's still here he doesn't have the knowledge to do that himself," Alex wondered.

"Maybe they tried to get out and he didn't want to risk them exposing him," Ford ventured. Brody shook his head.

"No she's right even if they had, trapping them here and threatening to kill them if they didn't cooperate would have made more sense. At least he would have enough employees to keep things running then."

"I don't know but this is getting us nowhere. We need to find Dr. Ward and a cure if he has it. We're wasting time standing here speculating," Commander Ford said and moved down the hallway again. Dutifully they followed.

**#**#**

Twice more they found rooms filled with bodies, thirty-five in all. Each time Lucas felt dread close in on him closer than before. Every single body was a reminder of what would happen to them if they didn't find a cure – soon. More and more he wondered if he should wait to use what rode secretively in his pocket and more and more he began to think he should go ahead and do it before they all died. He didn't want for it all to end without having even tried. He finally made up his mind as they crossed the threshold of a pair of short-circuited security doors.

"Alex?"

"What is it Lucas?" she asked stopping and turning back to him. He cast his eyes down at his feet momentarily, thinking of what to say. How to convey what he wanted her to know. Ford had gone on a few yards but doubled back when he realized Lucas and Alex weren't following. Brody had no choice but to stop and wait with them blocking the path.

"What did you stop for? Is something wrong?" Jonathan asked. Lucas shook his head no, swallowing the lump that had sprung up in his throat. Jim edged around behind them to the other side, getting out of their way.

"Come on then we don't have time…," Ford started to admonish but Brody placed a hand on his arm shaking his head for him to wait. He didn't know why they had stopped but he thought that for whatever reason it was important to Lucas.

"Alex, I…" Lucas tried stumbling over his words like a schoolboy. His hand had gone to his pocket turning the velvet covered square over and over nervously.

"If we survive this, if we make it out alive..."

"We will. I promised I would find a cure and I will." Alex said confused by his sudden need to pour his heart out. He took her arms in his hands and held her there tenderly.

"I know. Just, shut up and listen," he implored. Alex blinked at him in surprise but she stopped talking.

"If we do, I…Alex will you…"

He never finished his sentence. A moving body flung itself between them sending them both stumbling against the wall to avoid it. Ford and Brody had their rifles leveled at it before anyone could even blink.

"Hold it!" Jim barked.

The body turned out to be a very dirty, thin and terrified man with a scruffy beard and graying hair. He turned around slowly his hands held up in surrender.

"Please don't kill me," he begged.

"Who are you?" Ford asked his rifle still aimed. He wasn't going to lower it until he knew the man didn't pose a threat.

"Wilson Harris sir." The man stuttered fearfully.

"Do you work here?" asked Brody.

"Yes sir. I'm a chemist sir."

"Where's Dr. Ward?" Alex asked, completely unaware of what Lucas had been trying to attempt before they had been interrupted. She was more focused on finding Dr. Ward.

"I don't know ma'am. You're from the UEO aren't you?" the man babbled his hands still in the air. They shook so hard it looked like he was waving.

"Yes. What are you doing running down the hallway?" Lucas put in, his moment gone. He couldn't help feeling a little anger that the man had chosen that moment to show up. Couldn't he have waited just a few seconds longer?

"Thank god! You have to help us," he begged stepping toward them plaintively, forgetting that he had two pulse rifles trained on him at full power.

"Stay where you are," Ford warned tightening his grip on the gun.

"Us? There are others still alive?" Alex prodded.

"Seven. We've been hiding. When we heard you, we ran away. We didn't know if you were coming to save us or if you were Dr. Ward's men. I got separated," the man explained looking between Ford and Brody apprehensively.

Jonathan lowered his gun and motioned for Jim to check the man for weapons. Warily he moved to him and ran his hands over the Wilson's body but found nothing. Satisfied that the man posed no danger Ford nodded and beckoned the man forward. He fidgeted and his eyes darted back and forth nervously before he came forward tentatively.

"Now tell us what's going on. You said there are seven others hiding somewhere. Are they all that's left?" Jonathan asked careful to keep his tone mild. Wilson looked like he might turn and flee if anyone so much as breathed hard.

"Yes sir. He killed all the rest. Or the disease got them. At first, he incinerated the bodies but when things got too bad, he just started throwing them in rooms to get them out of the way. We wouldn't help him not after we knew what he had done. I tried to warn the UEO, I sent them the stem cells so they would know what was going on," he explained wringing his hands the entire time as if he feared he was going to be blamed somehow.

"This guy is a real class act." Brody remarked.

"They didn't reach the UEO; they were delivered to my lab by accident."

"Why didn't you call for help?" Jonathan asked.

"We couldn't. He cut communications off from everywhere but the main lab. I was lucky to get the stem cells out when I did."

"Where is the lab Wilson? Can you take us there?" Lucas asked.

"I can't do that, no. If I do, he'll find me. He'll make me tell him where the others are. You have to get us out of here."

"We will Wilson but we have to find Dr. Ward first. Just take us to the lab so we can get him and we'll all be able to leave this place," Ford urged. Wilson shook his head adamantly again.

"I can't. He knows I'm the one who sent the stem cells, he'll kill me."

"Please Wilson. People are dying; the stem cells are killing them. If we can talk to Dr. Ward, if he has a cure, we might have a chance to save them. At least tell us where it is," Alex implored.

The man seemed to debate it for a long time while they stood there in silence for him to make his decision.

"This way," he said before darting off down the hallway. They were forced to run to keep up. He didn't wait to see if they followed.


	25. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

It took four more trips up maintenance ladders before they reached the floor Wilson said the lab was on. Unlike the others this floor sported full power, though how that power had been rerouted proved that Dr. Ward had very little working knowledge of the electrical systems on the station. Lucas was having a harder and harder time focusing on what he was looking at, his dizzy spells were getting worse and it was taking more and more of his strength to fight them. Refusing to let it show he shook his head trying to make it stop.

"Well this explains how he jammed our communications," he said dropping a handful of burnt out electrical filaments that hung haphazard from an operations console in the hallway. Wilson kept himself busy hopping back and forth across the hall like a scared rabbit, sure that Dr. Ward would turn up any second.

"It's crude but it works. He used a back feed of noise to send the data transmission conduits into overdrive. This probably has communications blocked for anyone in a two thousand mile radius. We're lucky I could cut through it to reestablish ours."

"Can you disable it? If it's blocking communications that far away there are a lot of people who are going to be cut off from the outside world." Jonathan asked as he kept a look out. Lucas shook his head and pulled his minicomputer out of the console's access ports.

"Not without more time than we have. It's such a mess in there it would take hours to sort it all out."

With a reluctant sigh Ford motioned for him to leave it. They didn't have the time it would take to repair it. Quietly they moved on stopping before every bend in the passage to be sure Dr. Ward didn't lurk around it waiting for them. If the surviving personnel knew they were here Dr. Ward probably did too. Finally, Wilson stopped in front of a door and pointed shakily.

"This is it."

Ford went in first sweeping the room for anyone before he waved the others in. Wilson followed them slowly, nearly jumping out of his skin at every tiny sound.

Alex immediately started looking through everything in sight. The lab was state of the art but most of the equipment had been forgone in favor of older technology, probably because most of the newer appliances had been smashed to bits. Bunsen burners blazed under beakers instead of the more accurate electric variety, an electron microscope that had gone out of use fifteen years ago in favor of the newer fluorescence ones stood on a table, a slide still clipped to its pedestal. Nothing was organized on the counter tops; everything had been strewn about as if someone no longer cared if they kept accurate records or a sterile environment for experiments. But it was obvious the lab was very much still in use, Dr. Ward had to be close by.

"Looks like somebody had a temper tantrum." Brody joked flipping over the broken casing of a spectrum analysis machine.

"Dr. Ward has rages." Wilson explained hovering near the door for a quick getaway. He was obviously terrified of the doctor and from what Lucas had seen so far, he had every right to be. He hoped they found Dr. Ward before he found them.

"Is that something he usually does?" Commander Ford asked watching Lucas help Alex heave the remains of a filing cabinet off what looked like a still operational storage refrigerator. He would have lent a hand but he and Brody were watching their backs. Alex ignored them in favor of rummaging through the cold storage for anything useful, pocketing a number of vials from inside.

"Damn, I found more vials of the stem cells and some of the catalyst. We can use them for research if we have to. We won't have to worry about running out of material for tests but nothing that looks like a cure," she called back to them, still searching through the contents of the cold storage determined there had to be one in there somewhere.

"You're supposed to be dead."

They all started at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, Ford and Brody swinging their guns up in the general direction it had come from. Slowly a man strode from behind a row of still standing storage lockers beside the refrigerator that had concealed the door to an office until now, a gun of his own pointed squarely at Alex's head.

"I've been dead. It wasn't much fun, I think I'll pass this time," she snapped as she backed away. Her temper flaring again with no thought to what she said. Lucas wanted to hiss at her to be quiet; antagonizing the man wasn't really the best course of action at the moment. Granted it was something he would have said in the same position but somehow his bent for sarcasm didn't sound all that grand an idea when someone else did it.

"No one was supposed to know until it was done," the man hissed. He wasn't any taller than Lucas, with hair the same golden shade as Alex's and eyes just as green but they were shadowed and crazed, the tiny vessels standing out from the whites of his eyes and dilated so far that if he and Alex hadn't been so close to him, he wouldn't have been able to tell their color. He recognized him from an archive photo in the files he had found earlier. Dr. Ward had found them after all and now he firmly believed that the man was as insane as Wilson said he was. Wilson had disappeared as soon as he saw his captor, leaving them to handle things on their own. Lucas didn't know whether he considered it an act of cowardice or self-preservation.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Alex shot again steadily backing away as he advanced on her. Lucas backed with her waiting for an opportunity to snatch her away, better him than her if the doctor decided to shoot rather than talk. Dr. Ward flicked the gun gesturing at her making all of them flinch out of instinct certain he was about to pull the trigger.

"It's better for all of us," he assured her speaking as if he completely believed what he was saying.

"Better? Millions of people are going to die and that's better? Better than what? A billion?" Brody asked sighting along the muzzle of his rifle. If he could just get a clear shot! But Ward was careful to keep Alex between him and any chance Jim had of taking a shot. Jonathan had his own gun up looking for the same chance he was but was having no better luck.

"Haven't you killed enough? You tried to have Alex and her assistant killed. All but eight of your employees are dead; every human on the planet has your stem cells in their blood stream. You've contaminated our water supply with the catalyst for this horror you've created and millions may die because of it," Lucas said trying to reason with the man. Dr. Ward shook his head and Lucas thought he saw genuine regret flit across his features.

"Millions aren't going to die! They are going to live! The others…it was necessary. I couldn't let her and her assistant stop my work. It couldn't be helped," Ward insisted as if they didn't understand.

"We've already lost seven people on our ship. Thousands up world are showing signs of being affected by it already; more may have died since we left. People are dying Dr. Ward. Just put down the gun and help us. No one is going to hurt you we just want to stop this," Commander Ford beseeched him.

"No! No! That's not possible. It doesn't kill it prevents death. No one ever has to lose another child, watch another loved one wither and die from disease. No one ever has to be like me. I've discovered the Holy Grail of science. We will be perfect!" Ward railed his face twisting in fury as he waved the gun around manically, all of them ducking in case it went off accidently. Lucas tried to edge closer to Alex but Dr. Ward swung the gun around on him and back again and Lucas didn't dare. The doctor was getting steadily more agitated and Lucas knew sooner or later he was going to snap. He prayed Commander Ford and Brody could get him under control before that happened.

"Half your employees are dead from it. How can you say it doesn't kill? If the stem cells didn't kill them what did?" Jonathan asked confused by the man's rambling. He spoke as if they were talking about two completely different things.

"There's been some mistake; you have me confused with someone else. I'd never make something that would kill. It's not meant to kill, there's been a mistake!" Ward wailed again, blatantly refusing to accept what they were telling him. Somewhere along the way Michael Ward hadn't just taken a side road into lunacy, he'd jumped the track all together. Something about how he said what he said tickled a notion in Lucas's mind and he followed it.

"You did this because of your son didn't you? You never intended to find a treatment for the P-Core-A Virus; it was all a ruse to hide what you were really working on. The stem cells you hid in the Sahelian Virus Vaccine. That's why you haven't made any progress with the P-Core-A research in a decade. You were working on this. But why?" he asked daring to step forward a pace to try and insert himself between Alex and Dr. Ward. The doctor shook his head in denial, stricken. Jim was attempting to work his way around the clutter of lab tables and debris, to circle around until he could get a clear shot while the man was busy rationalizing what he had done.

"At first I did! But nothing worked so I tried to find a way that we would never have to worry about it ever again, I thought of a way to change us, make us so we would never be susceptible to disease again and I found it! The stem cells, they replace bad genes, repair them, make us perfect," he told them not pausing for breath.

"I knew genetic engineering was illegal, I knew the UEO would never allow it so I did what I had to do. I used the vaccine as a carrier agent; it was the perfect chance to get to everyone, the entire human race. Then when I had the catalyst perfected I sent it to water treatment plants disguised in water purification formulas, no one would notice by the time anyone found out it would be already be done and we would be free. Free of losing anyone like I did ever again. I took it just like all the rest!" he continued to babble, his eyes pleading with one of them to understand. Alex looked horrified.

"Those stems cells don't replace bad genes, they rupture cell membranes preventing them from repairing themselves, they turn on and copy dormant genes that never would have affected the people who carried them. You created a biological weapon not a gene therapy," Alex growled in disgust that anyone would believe they had the ability, the right to play god.

"Something must have gone wrong. Using the vaccine as the carrying agent must have mutated it somehow and we didn't see it because we didn't know that wasn't what it was meant to be," Lucas realized. Ward taking the vaccine and catalyst himself at least explained the wild change in personality, he was dying by his own hand and didn't even realize it.

"There has to be a cure, an antigen, anything. You created this you had to have created something to stop it in case something went wrong. Give it to us Dr. Ward. Please. Before it's too late to save those people," Alex pleaded realizing the man really meant what he said and tempering the volatile outburst that burned to erupt instead. To scream at him for all she was worth that he was killing her friends to rave at him until she either collapsed or lost her voice for the audacity it took to be so presumptuous. The fact he still had the gun trained on them didn't make her any more forgiving.

"There is no cure. It was the cure," Ward breathed finally beginning to accept that some part of what they were saying must be true. All of them went a few shades paler. Alex took a deep breath and got her emotions under control. She had to remain calm, think logically.

"Oh God, Okay, what about the catalyst. You put it in the water supply. How many treatment plants?" she asked hoping the number he gave would lend them some hope of finding a cure in time. She'd come here hoping he would have what they so desperately needed and found nothing except a man who had arrogantly tried to perfect what nature had made only for it to go horribly wrong. She couldn't feel sorry for him not even if she had tried. It didn't matter that his son had died so horribly, he had no right to decide the fate of others without their knowledge and consent, to toy with the balance of nature at the risk of millions of lives. Dr. Ward paled further and swallowed roughly.

"All of them."

"All of them where? The entire southeast coast? The continent?" Alex prodded. He shook his head again eyes white rimmed they were so wide.

"All of them. The whole world," he stammered and Alex felt like her heart fell to her feet. Behind her Lucas, Ford and Brody shared the same horrified expression.

"All of them? You haven't freed mankind! You've killed it!"


	26. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

"I didn't know!" Dr. Ward exclaimed in apology but it was too little too late. Alex's temper had shot through the roof farther and faster than Lucas had ever seen it go. She was red-faced her teeth clenched in absolute fury.

"Damn you! You didn't know? You didn't even suspect? Your employees are dead Dr. Ward. What did you think they were dying of? The plague? You jammed our communications, tried to kill me. You did manage to kill Sam, my research assistant. She's dead because of you and you didn't know? You self-righteous, presumptuous, egotistical, arrogant, pompous, thoughtless moron!" she screamed calling him everything she could think of until she ran out of ideas, heedless that Dr. Ward could have shot her if he had chosen to.

"Alex, calm down we have to get back to _seaQuest_. We have to take Dr. Ward back and see if he can help us find a cure," Lucas said trying to calm the rage she had flown into. She snorted in derision but the low tone of his voice, the hand he dared step forward and lay on her arm calmed her enough to think coherently again. However, it sent Dr. Ward into a mad panic.

"I'm not going anywhere! No, if I go with you they'll send me to prison!" he yelled moving the gun's target to each of them and back again frantically as if trying to decide who to shoot first. Brody was steadily working his way toward him every time he looked away from his direction, inching close enough for a safe shot while Jonathan tried to keep him occupied.

"Dr. Ward, it was a mistake. Just put down the gun and everything will be okay. Nothing is going to happen to you," Ford assured him but he obviously didn't believe it. All at once he made up his mind and bolted.

"No!" he screamed as he shoved past Alex and Lucas trying to get away. Lucas didn't know where he thought he could go. He had sealed himself into the station; no matter where he hid sooner or later they would find him.

The doctor careened toward the door and Jim took his chance stunning him with one shot but not before Dr. Ward's panicked flailing sent a beaker flying off a table and into the flames of a Bunsen burner. It caught fire almost before it hit, quickly catching everything nearby. In the rubble of discarded and neglected articles it traveled like wild fire, spreading quickly. The sprinklers didn't activate, Ward had probably bypassed or shorted them with his amateur wiring job.

"Don't breath!" Alex yelled in warning. The beaker that had started the fire was ether, a highly volatile liquid used as a solvent in labs. Long before it was ever used for that, it had been used as a form of primitive anesthesia, breathing the fumes would knock them out cold.

With no other recourse, they barreled out of the lab, Commander Ford and Brody hauling Dr. Ward's unconscious form along between them. They all paused to catch their breath as soon as the lab door slide shut.

"The sprinkler system isn't working, we have to get out of here before the whole place catches fire. If we're still here when it reaches the power plant we're toast," Lucas said. Alex turned back for the door and Ford grabbed her with one hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Going back in there, the stem cells and the catalysts are still in the cold storage. If this place comes apart they'll get into the water. I have no idea what they might do to sea life," she explained using the fingers of her free hand to tap the lab door open, determined to stop another catastrophe.

"There's no time. We have to get out of here. You'd never make it anyway," Jonathan said holding her gaze until she relented. With a frustrated growl, she slammed her fist into the door once as they all turned and made for the docking bay.

Despite having to carry Dr. Ward's unconscious body, they made far better time back to the docking bay than they had getting to the lab. The fire chased them the whole way, rapidly engulfing the interior of the station; it wouldn't be long before it reached the station's power plant. Another dizzy wave hit Lucas as the inner bay doors shut behind them, this time he didn't have time to hide it and Alex's brow furrowed in concern.

"What about the others?" he asked clutching the wall for support as they shoved Dr. Ward into the sea speeder and prepared to launch.

"It's too late. We can't go back for them," Commander Ford said shaking his head sorrowfully. They all cast a last regretful look at the doors behind them and sealed the speeder, leaving eight more lives to be added to the list of dead attributable to Dr. Michael Ward.

"Lucas are you alright?" Alex asked apprehensively as the sea speeder catapulted away from the station for the ship. Lucas grinned and tried to pretend he was.

"Yeah, must have breathed a little of that ether after all," he said dismissing it but the look in Alex's eyes said she knew he was anything but.

**#**#**

Back on board the _seaQuest_ they were met coming out of the docking bay by a harried looking seaman. Power had been reinstated ship wide since they no longer needed the extra power to rush them to their destination and the renewed light illuminated the chaos around them. Lucas thought he had preferred it dark. Every person still standing showed symptoms of sickness, most looked like they were going to fall over any second, some looked like they should have already collapsed and by some extraordinary force of will managed to keep going, a few even cast them weary smiles of greeting.

If there was one thing s_eaQuest_ was known for. it was the integrity and tenacity of her crew even under the worst conditions imaginable. He was reminded of something Tony had once said…you give whatever it takes even if it takes more than you've got. That certainly looked like what they were doing, they wouldn't give up, not until the very end. They'd fight this to a man or die trying.

"Commander Ford sir, Lieutenant O'Neill has Secretary General McGath on vidlink. He's been trying to explain the situation to him," the seaman reported mustering a professional tone despite the fact his lips and eyelids were swollen to twice what they should have been.

"Jim get Dr. Ward to the brig. I want him secured before he wakes up," Ford ordered before turning his attention to the seaman in front of him. Brody nodded curtly and hastened off with the help of two others to carry the doctor.

"O'Neill? Where's the captain?" he asked afraid of the answer he was going to get. If they had managed to reach someone at UEO headquarters Nathan should have been the one talking to him not Tim.

"The captain collapsed sir, he and Dr. Smith are incapacitated," the seamen relayed rubbing unconsciously at his eyes. The three of them blanched at the news, they had been gone less than three hours and already their number was dwindling further. Ford fought off the sick expression on his face and took charge. Lucas and Alex just looked more worried than ever.

"So command fell to O'Neill by default. Alright let's get up there and see what's going on," Ford said leading the way with Lucas and Alex close on his heels.

"How many more have collapsed?" Alex queried as they made their way through the press of remaining crew. Fewer people wandered about their duties than before and she dreaded the answer.

"Sixty percent of the crew isn't fit to serve Ma'am. Most of the bridge crew has gotten worse. Another one of your science team, Dr. Allen Young, collapsed and died of a heart attack," the seaman told her. Alex swallowed hard and sighed in dejected acceptance. That left three people on the team, counting her and Lucas, to accomplish what a team of ten hadn't been able to. If the circumstances hadn't been so dire she might have wondered what made the seaman address her with the respect usually reserved for the ship's crew.

"Have we lost anyone else?" Lucas asked not wanting to hear the answer to that question any more than he had the previous one.

"Nine people," the seaman said giving them both a miserable glance. Commander Ford hadn't said anything in response but Lucas knew he had heard every word. He could see it in the way his shoulders crept a little higher, a little tenser with every word.

"Has Sarah had any luck with finding something?" Alex asked. The seaman just shook his head. Alex shook her own massaging her forehead in frustration. Or was it pain? Lucas couldn't be sure.

They stepped on the bridge to find Lieutenant Timothy O'Neill in rare form. He stood in front of the forward screen with his back ramrod straight, hands clasped behind him, talking in a tone Commander Ford had only ever heard him use once before when they had been in the midst of trying to save a French sight-seeing sub from a freshwater sink hole. His commanding call for quiet had left everyone present speechless.

Lucas had never heard him use that tone and neither had Alex; both of them had their eyebrows raised so high in surprise they looked like they had none. Tim was shy most of the time, hearing him barking at Secretary General McGath as if he owned the ship came as quite a shock.

"I don't think you understand Mr. Secretary, that won't work. Quarantining the infected will not stop the spread. I have it on good authority that it does not spread; this is something that was given to all of them. You can't spread it like a cold!" he snapped. Commander Ford stopped to listen to _seaQuest's_ communications officer giving the head of the UEO grief like nobody's business and couldn't help feeling just a little amused by it and though he would never tell him, proud.

"And whose authority is that?" McGath asked with barely contained anger. He did not like being addressed that sternly or that forward.

"Mine," Alex said stepping around Lucas and the Commander so he would have no problem seeing who had spoken. It was then Tim took notice of them standing aside to let Commander Ford take over but Jonathan made no move to do so just yet. McGath had a piercing look leveled at Alex and she gave him stare for stare. There was no love lost between the two of them. Thomas McGath had been at the forefront of ignoring the danger Dr. Ryan Sanborn had posed and Admiral Noyce had been following his orders when he told Nathan to stay out of the situation. Captain Bridger had gleefully ignored them both and it was a good thing he had.

"Ms. Northman, what Lieutenant O'Neill has been telling me cannot be happening. We have to contain this situation and the CDC has recommended we isolate those affected. I don't know where you get your information but we cannot just let…" he began.

"We have larger problems than worrying about quarantining a few thousand people. We've talked to Dr. Ward; he's responsible for all of this. The catalyst isn't just in the water supply of the southeast, it's everywhere. The entire human race is going to be wiped out if we don't do something soon. What's worse, Mendel Laboratory has caught fire. When the flames reach the power plant the whole place will explode contaminating the ocean with the stem cells and the catalyst we couldn't get off the station," Lucas interjected. It didn't pass his notice that McGath didn't look very well, his complexion was too pale and he trembled with chills behind his desk.

"Mr. Wolenczak that's impossible. There is no way one man could have managed to contaminate every water treatment plant in the world," McGath said incredulous.

"He's had sixteen years to do it. It doesn't matter if it's impossible or not, the fact is he has and if we don't find a cure very, very soon we are all as good as dead," Alex snapped at the screen her teeth gritted in anger, she gripped her head as if she might pull her hair out.

She never had seemed to really come down off the rant she had launched at Ward on the station and she was quickly escalating. Ford was allowing the exchange to go on, McGath had to know exactly what their circumstances were and he had more immediate concerns. Quietly, he ordered the helmsman to pull the ship back from the station out of blast range. They couldn't be sure exactly when the station would go, but it couldn't be much longer.

"Ms. Northman, you can't really expect me to take your advice over an entire institute of scientists who deal with this sort of thing on a daily basis," McGath said in exasperation.

"Mr. Secretary with all due respect, she's the only one who does know what's going on. If you would just listen…" Tim began in her defense and Alex cast him another startled glance, though no one else seemed all that shocked that he had come to her defense. Tim O'Neill was full of surprises when you least expected it.

"Do they know what's causing the illness Secretary? Do they even have a clue? You look a little peaked yourself sir. I don't suppose your doctors found elevated protein levels in your blood did they?" Alex asked pushing on one temple with the heel of her hand and trying very hard to keep her voice in check as she took in the same signs of illness in his features Lucas had. Lucas watched the dispute but held his tongue. Alex could handle herself in an argument and she had just hit home.

"No they don't. How did you know that?" McGath asked astonished, leaning forward on his desk suspiciously. Alex doubled over clutching her head and groaned once deeply. When she stood up and faced the screen again it was obvious why, blood ran from her nose and she brushed it away with one hand in annoyance before muttering, "No, not now, not now, not yet." She wiped away a new rivulet of it and looked pointedly at the screen.

"That's because you have it Mr. Secretary. Maybe that's why you're acting like a complete idiot. You're dying just like the rest of us. You can sit there in your ivory tower giving orders all damn day for all I care. I don't have time for this, I have work to do."

"Ms. Northman you have caused enough problems for the UEO in the last two years. You have no right to assume you have any authority over me!" McGath screamed. Alex took one step forward and stared him down.

"Never forget the price you paid to keep that problem quiet Mr. Secretary. Then again if you don't do something about this holocaust, you might not have such a quiet problem after all," she threatened. McGath's eyes went wide. He knew exactly to what she was referring and she knew it.

"Are you threatening me Ms. Northman?" he growled through gritted teeth. Alex cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know…am I?" she retorted.

With that, she turned and stalked off the bridge without a second look at McGath or the crew, all of them aghast.

**#**#**

Lucas followed after Alex leaving Commander Ford and Tim to talk sense into Secretary General McGath. He had expected to have to chase her but she hadn't gone more than a few yards, sunk down on the floor of the corridor with her head leaned back against the bulkhead, her knees drawn up, looking at the ceiling as if for divine intervention, twirling the vial hung from her necklace like prayer beads. Silently he sat down beside her, unconsciously assuming the same pose.

The ship rocked briefly and they could hear the muffled roar of Mendel Laboratory going up in smoke. They only sighed in resignation at it, too numbed by the emotional overload to feel much of anything right now. Later they would feel it, the tragedy, the sorrow but right now it was just too much. Neither of them said anything for a long time, they just sat there in companionable silence.

Lucas thought of asking her exactly what she had meant with that last statement to McGath but thought better of it. He had a feeling he didn't want to know, maybe later when this was all over he would ask her.

"Why didn't you tell me you were being affected by the stem cells?" he asked finally breaking the silence. Alex rolled her head to look at him but kept it where it was.

"It was just a matter of time. We both knew that. Why didn't you?" she asked giving him a nearly expressionless look. Lucas draped his arms over his knees and sighed.

"Probably for the same reason you didn't tell me. I didn't want to worry you," he admitted leaning back on the bulkhead with her.

"We make quite a pair don't we?" she chuckled morosely. Then, "I don't know if I can do this Lucas."

"Just keep trying. That's all any of us can do. Don't give up," he encouraged her patting her knee. Lucas fiddled with the square in his pocket again contemplating.

"Alex…" Lucas started, intending to ask her what he had meant to in the station's hallway, only to be interrupted again, this time by Tim as he came looking for them. He felt like screaming in frustration at yet another interruption but what could he do? His wants and desires took second chair to the crisis they were in.

"Why is it when Alex visits a station it blows up afterward?" he quipped good-naturedly. Alex cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I guess I have an explosive personality," she cracked back deadpan. Lucas and Tim gave an acrimonious chuckle. It shouldn't have been funny but with the rage of emotions and the boiler of pressure they were in the middle of, humor had a way of popping up in any form it could lest it's barer go mad.

"Commander Ford wanted me to check on you. Are you alright?" he asked real concern making his nose wrinkle and his glasses slide down his nose. He pushed them back up absently.

"No but then again none of us are, are we?" she said and then shook her head. "Don't worry I'll be fine. I'm no worse off than anyone else on board."

"The Commander convinced McGath to see reason. He wants a copy of all your current work so he can get the CDC and the Ballard Institute working on it. He figures that the more you have working on it the better chance you have of finding a cure."

Alex laughed softly, "Well, miracle of miracles. Sure, I'll get them to him as soon as possible; for what good it will do."

Silence over took them again and Tim finally joined them on the floor, his chin balanced on his knees.

"Thanks for supporting me back there Tim," Alex said. Tim gazed at her for a moment before cracking a grin.

"Sure, no problem but your taste in movies is still provincial."

"And yours still lacks adventure," Alex shot back with a genuine grin. Lucas smiled with them remembering that day in the mess hall. It seemed so long ago. After a moment they all broke into laughter leaving those that passed them wondering if they had lost their sanity. If they had only known, it might have been the only thing saving it.


	27. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Two days later the whole crew felt like giving up. Alex had sent the reports as McGath had asked and they still hadn't gotten any closer to finding a cure, even with more than a hundred scientists now working on it.

Alex had refused to remove her necklace for any reason, even sleep. Something they had had very little of. Lucas had been right she had made it her lucky charm. He hoped it was all she hoped it would be.

Captain Bridger was now paralyzed completely, his muscles too rigid to move. Wendy had gone deaf in addition to being blind and no longer knew where she was or who she was talking to. Tony had slipped into a coma and Miguel had flat lined twice, the last time they had barely gotten him back.

Ian Miller passed during the night and Dagwood's temperature had risen so high he had begun having seizures. Lonnie had lost all of her skin and was being kept alive by the application of synthetic skin to keep her from dehydrating. Nine more crewmen had gone to Davy Jones' Locker.

Lucas had been told the reason for his dizzy spells was a tumor in his brain growing much too fast. Alex was in danger of dying due to intracranial pressure as her brain inexplicably swelled. Sarah Marks had joined the ranks of the incapacitated. Ford, Brody and Tim had finally begun to show signs of succumbing as well, though they were still capable of working for the time being.

Seventy five percent of the crew were either dead or so ill they couldn't stand. Dr. Ward had regained consciousness but was so mentally unstable now that he babbled incoherently. They had been unable to pry anything of any value from him no matter what they tried.

What was left of the working crew was becoming more and more disheartened with every passing hour, wandering the passage ways with heads hung and heavy hearts. It lent an odd and foreboding quiet to the ship. The hopelessness was so palpable you could have held it in your hand. Things looked beyond all hope.

"Nothing works, nothing!" Alex wailed in despair, tossing a stack of useless reports onto a table and looking lost. Angrily she stuffed herself into a chair and leaned back, gazing at the ceiling.

"Keep trying sweetheart," Lucas encouraged her sitting down beside her and pulling his chair as close to hers as he could. She shook her head in exasperation.

"You keep saying that…" she said but never finished.

He watched her twisting and turning her vial pendant between her fingers wishing he knew what to say and knowing there was nothing he could. He had put his plan on hold until this was all over…if this was all over. They didn't have time for it. If they didn't make it, in the end it wouldn't matter would it? Silently Alex slide her arms around him and hugged him as close as she could, sighing heavily.

She might have given up completely in that moment but the comm system clicked on buzzing white noise a moment before Tim could be heard clearing his throat with a shrieking back feed. It sounded like he had the thing on ship wide and every mic on board open.

"What shall we do with a drunken sailor?" he sang. His voice was shaky at first but after a few seconds it steadied and Lucas knew why he had all the mics open. Solemnly he joined in adding his voice to the others slowly creeping into the melody.

"What shall we do with a drunken sailor?" Lucas sang tugging on Alex's arm to join him. Hesitantly she did, Alex couldn't have carried a tune in a bucket with the lid welded shut but somehow right now it sounded golden.

"What shall we do with a drunken sailor? Earlie in the mornin'. God speed the whales are runnin'. God speed the whales are runnin', God speed the whales are runnin', Earlie in the mornin'," They sang. They couldn't know that Chief Manilow Crocker had sung the same sea shanty during _seaQuest's_ first tour while Lucas, Benjamin Krieg, Commander Ford and Dr. Kristin Westphalen had been riding out a hurricane in a life raft and the crew had been steadily losing hope for their survival. He had used the song to raise the crew's spirits then and Tim had thought now might be just the time to remind the crew that could remember of that and hopefully remind the rest of the crew who and what they were.

The voices rose reverberating through the ship, there were so many Lucas knew that anyone with a voice still left to them had to be singing even those that had been incapacitated. He swore he could hear Captain Bridger's voice blending with his own.

"Hooray and up she rises, Hooray and up she rises, Hooray and up she rises, Earlie in the mornin'." The song went on, and Lucas thought he really did feel his spirits rise with it just a little. They sang that way for as long as their voices would hold, returning to their work with some small amount of renewed vigor.

**#**#**

A few hours later with their morale still staying barely afloat, Alex and Lucas were busy running tests with every compound they could come up with on the stem cells and the catalyst. Commander Ford had come to check on their progress, his wheezing breath playing counter point to the electronic hum of the lab equipment. He had pneumonia that wasn't viral or bacterial making it unexplainable but then what about this had been explainable?

Alex peered into the microscope eyepiece again using a pipette of their latest concoction to poke and prod the activated stem cells. They crowded away from the instrument in the far top corner of their slide just as they had been doing all day but nothing seemed to faze them. Lucas watched a read out tracking the biological changes the action caused alongside the enlarged image of the microscope's image but the data told them nothing better than they already had.

"It looks like their running away," Ford said looking at the screen. Alex pulled back from the microscope and gave him a put upon look.

"Stem cells don't run away Commander, they aren't sentient," she snapped her brows tight with pain and frustration. Her brain continued to swell and she knew that soon she would join the others incapacitated by this holocaust. Lucas for his part had to hold onto the nearest solid object capable of bearing his weight. His dizzy spells had gotten so bad he no longer knew which way was up and which was down most of the time.

"I didn't say they were but that's what it looks like," Ford reiterated with a cough. Lucas watched the screen and them carefully; if he didn't force himself to focus he would lose his concentration.

"They've been doing it all day but it doesn't seem to mean anything," Alex said in annoyance. The stem cells had spread out on the slide again. Lucas chewed his lip thinking, Ford was right it was odd behavior but they had been ignoring it because it didn't seem to matter in the scheme of things.

"It does look like they're running away doesn't it?" he said as Alex leaned over the microscope with a new pipette, sending the stem cells scurrying for the corner again. Twice more Lucas watched the stem cells retreat when she provoked them with the pipette and twice more as soon as she pulled back they redistributed themselves over the slide.

"They only do it when you stick the solution with the pipette," Lucas observed.

"Maybe they're ticklish," Alex said churlishly. Lucas and Ford disregarded it, they knew now she had no control over it. The pressure on her brain was causing the swings in personality and temperament.

"Here let me have a look, maybe there's something we're missing. There's a pattern there," Lucas said sliding inch by inch over to the microscope and peering into it. Nothing happened.

"Hand me a pipette."

Alex rolled her eyes but handed him the next pipette off the tray. Lucas prodded the stem cells the same way Alex had and still nothing happened. He sat back crossing his arms in contemplation.

"It only happens when you do it, here do it again and let's see if it happens again," he said inching back down the console so Alex could resume her place. She sighed in annoyance but humored him.

This time there was the tiniest tinkle of glass as her pendant swung forward and tapped the specimen stand, the stem cells fled back to the corner before she even got the chance to use a pipette. Lucas didn't bother asking, he had the necklace unclasped before she could sit back.

"Hey!" Alex complained her hand going reflexively to where the pendant had been. Lucas pointed to the view screen in answer. They all watched as the stem cells crept back out across the slide. Lucas moved the faintly glowing pendant toward them and they fled. Now both Alex and Commander Ford saw what was going on.

"Do you have anymore? Can it be replicated?" Alex asked suddenly hopeful again.

"Yeah, I've got a whole canister of it I've been using as a night light," Lucas answered and Alex snatched back the necklace breaking the sealed gold cap off the top of the vial.

"What is that?" Ford asked, he'd seen what it did but he had no clue what it was.

"Dinoflagellates," Lucas said. Alex was busy pulling a pipette of the substance from the broken vial.

"Phytoplankton? Algae?" Ford said in disbelief shaking his head.

"Specifically a bioluminescent strain called _Pyrocistis lunula_. I found a way for it to sustain itself on the suspension fluid and bioluminesce permanently," Lucas explained. Alex squeezed a drop of it onto the slide with the stem cells and they watched. As soon as it made contact the stem cells ruptured and broke apart killing them.

"Hand me a slide with just the catalyst on it then prep one with someone's blood who's been infected," Alex ordered without looking up her hand thrust behind her in anticipation of one of them following instructions. Carefully she set the first slide to the side while Lucas handed her the first one she requested.

"Is it a cure?" Jonathan asked tense.

"I don't know just give me a second," Alex said and they all held their breath waiting.

Again, she dropped a bit of the liquid onto the slide of catalyst and it went inert so fast the reader barely had time to calculate it. It was all any of them could do to keep from cheering but they kept their silence as Lucas passed her a slide of his own blood, while he sucked the pricked finger. Nervously Alex took it and slid it onto the stand with something very near reverence. With a deep breath, she placed a drop of the substance on the slide and snapped her eyes to the view screen.

On screen, they watched as the algae battled with the activated stem cells killing them and then, to their utter amazement, latched onto the stem cells infected by the altered ones, infiltrating them and forcing out what didn't belong. It was repairing them! They'd found it!

Alex and Lucas took one look at each other and bolted wobbling and bobbling for the door, headed for Lucas's quarters and the canister of algae. Commander Ford yelled after them as the door to the lab swung open and clanged off the wall.

"Well is it a cure?"

They both turned back to face him running backward down the corridor with grins so large Ford wondered if their teeth might fall out.

"Yes!" They both screamed in unbridled exuberance. Ford whooped right along with them.

**#**#**

Lucas and Alex had gotten to his quarters and back so fast Jonathan wondered if they had managed to materialize from outside the lab, to there and back again. Now, they were both absorbed in assembling a synthesis apparatus to produce huge quantities of the algae while Ford was taking orders from them. He was more than happy to do so.

"Okay here is the formula, get this over to the UEO and tell them they have to produce it exactly the same way or it won't work. Some reaction between the algae and the way Lucas preserved it is what makes it work. I can't tell them why right now but it does and I don't think anyone is going to care at the moment. Make sure they know they have to put it in all our water systems. I mean every last one. We have a cure but until everyone on _seaQuest_ and up world has had it, we aren't out of the woods yet. We could still lose people before we have enough of the cure to distribute," Alex explained.

Commander Ford was paying rapt attention to their instructions despite the fact he was watching them put the machine together with fascination. Beakers and vats sat lined across a table with a huge vat sitting on the floor at either end of it. They were hooking together a convoluted maze of glass pipes above it that connected from the first floor vat to the second with spigots that dripped into the vats and beakers on the table. He couldn't understand how they remembered how to assemble it without a diagram.

On another table were more hypo-sprays than he had ever seen lined neatly side-by-side, empty medication vials waited in their own line to be filled and loaded into those hypo-sprays. Around the table's base, they had rows of buckets to transport the solution to the ballast tanks as soon as they were filled. They had quite a system going and he had rarely seen a team work as seamlessly as the two of them did. They wove back and forth tending to one thing or another, moving from the others way so sinuously it could have been a dance. He knew in the heat of the moment neither realized what they were doing but they made an incredible team together.

"They have to give it intravenously for the quickest results and as soon as we have enough we'll give it to the crew and fill the ballast tanks with it, then we'll blow the ballast tanks as we travel and that will treat the sea water. The stem cells might have no effect on sea life but we can't take that chance. We need more manpower to get this up and running," Lucas said picking up where Alex left off without missing a beat.

"Alright. I'll get Brody and O'Neill in here to help you with all this while I send this to the UEO," Ford answered taking the ream of papers Alex handed him. He smiled brightly at her despite still being ill. Now it was only a matter of time and with him being one of the least ill his chances of survival were pretty much guaranteed.

"We all knew you could do it," he congratulated her with a clap on the shoulder. Alex shook her head and smiled back.

"No the credit should go to Lucas, he created the cure, he just didn't know it at the time," she insisted looking back at him. He grinned back as he hefted another tube into place on the synthesis machine.

"No it was both of us," he said. A wave of dizziness struck him again and he gripped the table, only this time holding on to something sturdy didn't seem to help, he still felt like he was falling. With a barely audible gasp, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the floor. Alex sank down beside him calling his name.

"Lucas!"


	28. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Alex had Lucas's head in her lap brushing the hair from his face and pleading with him to wake up, tears flowing unbidden and unheeded. She didn't care who saw, if he had gotten so bad he collapsed the cure might not be ready in time to save him. She couldn't use what little they had, it was the only template they had to synthesis more.

"Come on Lucas. Wake up baby. Don't die on me please," she begged but he lay there limp. He was still breathing and his vitals were strong but he wasn't conscious. She had blocked out anyone around her out so well it came as a shock when Commander Ford knelt down beside her to check on Lucas himself. Then he was gone again, where she didn't know. She knew she should be doing something, but at that moment, nothing else mattered. All she could see was his face, eyes closed as if in sleep and she wondered if this was how Lucas had felt in Sanborn's lab. Was this how he had felt battling to bring her out of her coma, free her from the chip still embedded in her brain stem as reminder of what he had to save her from?

She felt hands try to pull her gently away and she held on tighter. If she let go she might never see him again, her irrational mind reasoned. The hands pulled harder and she increased her grip. Her head was turned firmly to face whomever the hands belonged too and she found herself staring into Brody's face. He cupped her head gently, holding her gaze and spoke softly but sternly.

"Alex, you have to let him go. We have to get him stabilized."

She shook her head in refusal. The stress, the pressure on her brain, the shock of watching Lucas collapse at her feet all conspired to make her act without any logical thought. Brody's eyes pleaded with her, there was real compassion there but she was too terrified to accept it and let go.

"I can't. I love him. If I let go he'll die," she babbled.

"Alex, I know you love him. He's not going to die. Not if you get this cure made in time. You have to get back to work making it or he will," he reasoned jolting her back to reality. With a heart heavy sigh, she released her grip on Lucas and Brody helped her to her feet while Tim and Ford got Lucas onto a bed.

She watched her face lined with intense worry. Brody watched her looking undecided about something.

"Oh hell why not," he said suddenly making up his mind and pulling her into a hug. She accepted it without reservation taking some comfort from the warm body that lent her support. As they watched Tim and Ford get Lucas stabilized, Jim finally broke the hug and they stood there his arm wrapped around her shoulder like an older brother.

"We'll make it. Don't worry about it," he said as cheerfully as he could with a brief squeeze. Sniffling she looked up at him.

"How can you be so sure of that?" she asked.

"Because…we have you," he assured her and smiled one of his disarming smiles.

**#**#**

Alex didn't falter again. In fact, she had every crewman able to walk not needed to keep the ship afloat and stable ferrying buckets of the cure to the ballast tanks in an assembly line. Or filling hypo-sprays with the cure and administering it. It took twelve hours and they lost another four lives but they had the cure now.

They had to work from those first stricken to those most recently taken down in order to ensure the highest survival rate. Some selfish part of her wanted to snatch a vial of it and give it to Lucas as soon as it had come off the line but she knew he wouldn't have wanted her to. He would have wanted her to save as many lives as she could without sacrificing them to save his. It took every ounce of will power she had but she managed to. He was still stable, fading quickly as the tumor in his brain spread but he was still alive. There was still time.

Up world was as big a flurry of activity as the ship was. If they had been able to see and hear above them, they would have seen entire fleets of helicopters shuttling cure from one place to another, cargo ships floating past as fast as they could go glowing in the night like a billion stars held on the open deck by some invisible string. That was the one thing about the cure that made it seem otherworldly, sent by the powers that be. They had left the composition exactly as Lucas had developed it. Since they didn't know exactly what about it made it work they hadn't dared to change it and so trillions of vials, vats, canisters, barrels and other containers drifted through the darkness glowing an ethereal blue. A magic potion sent to save the world at least that was what the news was comparing it to. Alex didn't have time to bother listening to those reports or she might have thrown something heavy at the screen. Commander Ford had seen them and he considered doing it for her more than once. Leave it to the media to turn a worldwide extinction level event into a television ratings gambit.

**#**#**

Seventeen hours after they had begun manufacturing the cure everyone on board had been given it including Dr. Ward and Lucas. Alex had given it to them herself and now there was nothing she could do but sit and wait. They had lost another three crewmembers too far gone to be saved but the first recipients already showed signs of healing.

Commander Ford was on the bridge getting the _seaQuest _off and running so they could distribute the algae into the seawater. She thought it was probably more of a safety measure than anything else but they couldn't be too careful.

Alex was sitting holding Lucas's hand while he still lay unconscious, waiting for the cure to take effect when she heard a soft knock on the door. The last person to leave must have locked it out of habit and she reluctantly got up to answer it. It was Tim already looking better than he had before.

"Hi, I just came to check on you two and tell you we're about to get underway and dump the ballast tanks. How is he?" he asked pushing his glasses up his nose as they slipped down.

"Stable, I just gave him the cure; it will still be a little while before we see signs of recovery," she told him moving aside so he could enter. Together they walked back to Lucas's bed though Alex remained standing, her arms crossed over her chest.

"He is going to be okay? Isn't he?" Tim asked shyly, as if afraid of the answer.

"I hope so, we still lost three people despite getting the cure to them, we were just too late. All we can do is pray," she said mournfully. They felt the ship shift and move as she headed out, in her head Alex could see the cure streaming from the ballast tanks as they drifted leaving a glowing trail of blue light behind them.

"He'll be fine. He always is," Tim asserted without the conviction he meant the statement to carry. Alex smiled wanly.

"Yeah, I'm sure he will," she answered in just as weak a tone. She could still lose him, now only time would tell.

"Where are we headed after we pump the ballast tanks?" she asked changing the subject before she broke down into tears again. She'd done enough of that in the last few weeks to last a life time. Absently she rubbed at her eyes, they felt filmy and her vision a bit blurred. She probably just needed some sleep.

"The closest port, so Pearl Harbor," Tim said squeezing Lucas's arm affectionately and turning to look at her. His face contorted into a worried scowl and Alex returned it with one of her own.

"What?" she asked.

"Your nose is bleeding again."

Reflexively she wiped at it and her hand came away covered in the sticky red mess. Her eyes blurred again and she wiped them with the back of her hand only for it to come away bloody as well. She suddenly felt very unsteady realizing what she had done.

"Alex? Did you take the cure yet?" Tim asked grabbing both her arms before she sank to the floor. She chuckled and raised her eyebrows in morbid amusement at herself.

"No. I forgot," she said as she sagged unconscious into his arms. The last thing she heard was Tim reprimanding her and a hiss.

"Alex, you idiot."


	29. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Slowly Alex came to. Light was coming from somewhere, piercing through her eyelids like tiny spears and a steady beep resounded around her. She wanted it to stop, she wanted to go back to sleep but the light and the beeping refused to desist. Vaguely she noted she was in a bed of some sort, she must be in the medical bay finally incapacitated, just as Lucas had been. _Lucas!_ She thought and sat bolt upright, swatting away the wires that impeded her. Looking around frantically she realized she was not in the medical bay; this was a hospital ward. S_eaQuest_ had made port sometime since she had collapsed and she had been taken to a hospital. She didn't care.

The only thing on her mind was finding Lucas and discovering if he was alright. Alex began ripping the wires off and hands tried to stop her, female hands. Her eyes followed up the arms attached to those hands to see the face of their owner. Lonnie gazed back at her, a worried knot furrowing her brows. Her skin had regrown and she looked as healthy as she ever had, the skin baby soft and smooth, completely flawless. The cure had worked better than any of them could have hoped for, total reversal of the damage the stem cells had caused. Alex's mind noted it but was so set on finding Lucas it didn't seem to register that the last time she had seen Lieutenant Henderson she had been little more than a breathing cadaver kept alive by synthetic skin against all odds. It didn't occur to her to wonder why Lonnie would have chosen to wait by her bedside.

"Whoa, hold on. It's okay, Alex. Calm down, you're fine," Lonnie said trying to sooth her. Alex gripped her arms and peered into her face searching for some clue to Lucas's condition.

"Where's Lucas?" she demanded desperate. Lonnie smiled and began to respond but Alex had resumed tearing the wires from her body, including the IV and heart monitor, which caused the vital sign system to begin wailing a flat line alarm. It could no longer detect her heartbeat or brain function, had just declared a code one, and was intent on blaring it to anyone who could hear. Alex ignored it, scrambling off the bed, dodging Lonnie's attempts to halt her and explain. She was not yet coherent enough to realize that Lonnie could simply have told her if Lucas was alright or not. She was too firmly in the grip of panic to reason, still trapped in the last emotional upheaval she had experienced before collapsing onboard _seaQuest_.

"Alex, he's…" Lonnie tried to tell her but she was already out the door and into the hallway. Nurses and medics raced toward her room, believing they had a downed patient. She glanced around looking for someone to demand information of. Lonnie followed trying to get her to be rational. Now the medical staff was in a tizzy trying to figure out what was going on. The supposedly code one victim was bolting across a hallway in a hospital gown with an expression of fierce determination on her face with her minder trying to dissuade her mad journey.

Alex leaned over the nurse's station counter and grabbed the first person she saw, hauling the poor startled woman forward by her shirt collar. Alex was a remarkable sight, her legs dangling off the floor she was so far over the counter, her hand wrapped in the nurse's shirt like a mental patient. Lonnie tried to pry her off as the medical staff closed in on them afraid they would send her straight from the recovery rooms to the mental ward for her sudden snap in sanity.

"Lucas Wolenczak, Where is he? What room?" Alex demanded. The nurse shook her head terrified of the diminutive blonde ball of frenzy that had her in a very difficult position.

"I'm sorry miss. We don't have a Lucas Wolenczak in admittance," she squawked. Alex went white, her worst fears surfacing. He was dead. If she had been admitted and he hadn't he must have died on the way here. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. Her hand remained in a death grip on the woman's shirt, latched there like a steel claw. She didn't hear pounding footsteps coming through the babbling crowd of doctors and nurses too afraid to intervene lest she strangle the nurse in her grip.

"What's going on?" a voice said.

"Is everything alright?" another asked.

Alex let go of the nurse and slid off the counter in an ungraceful tangle, turning to face the direction of the voices. Lucas and Captain Bridger had just forced their way through the press of personnel and had looks of deep worry on their faces, both assuming the worst, the vital monitor still wailing a code one. No one had bothered to shut off the machine's alarm in the chaos. They carried cups of coffee and snack bags in hand, obviously on their way back from a food run. It took a moment for any of the three to realize what was going on. Then Alex flung herself at Lucas, nearly toppling him in a wildly relieved embrace. He stumbled trying to keep from crashing to the ground, dropping the coffee and wrap his arms around her at the same time. Lonnie saved him, deftly plucking the cup from his hand before someone ended up scalded with an amused smile. Nathan shared it, looking on with his arms crossed over his chest, all trace of his paralysis gone, his normal fluid movement once again restored to him.

"I thought I'd lost you," Alex breathed, her head buried in the hollow of Lucas's neck. He held on tightly, feeling the same need for succor in their enfolding hold on each other she did. It had been three days since they docked in Pearl Harbor, three days since they had brought Alex to the nearest hospital unconscious and bordering on an embolism that could kill her, none of them sure if the cure would work soon enough to stop it.

"I'm here. I'm fine," he consoled her, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head. They stayed that way for a long moment savoring the feeling of having the other safe and whole in their arms. The medical staff slowly filtered away seeing that the crisis had passed. Only one or two stayed nearby in case something more transpired, careful to keep their attention elsewhere as much as possible seeing two lovers reunited against all odds in the midst of the crisis the world faced.

Their tender moment was broken by the rumble of more running footsteps, a small cavalcade of them pounding up the opposite end of the hallway and stopping suddenly, already too late for the upset Alex's overwrought escapade had caused. All of the bridge crew stood there looking on with varying degrees of concern, confusion and relief on their faces. None of them able to decide which they should be, all of them looking as hearty as they ever had, not a mark on them from the horrific ailments they had suffered. Lucas and Alex broke apart, dropping an arm around the other's waist, unwilling to disengage completely, both of them still too emotionally tense to let go of that tenuous and invisible thread of support it offered them.

"Hey, Rip Van Winkle is awake. We thought you might sleep for the next twenty years, lazy bones," Brody joked smiling wide as he stepped forward and clapped her affectionately on the shoulder. His overture triggered a similar out pouring from the rest of them, Captain Bridger and Lonnie joining in, each coming forward in turn to greet the last member of their crew to come out of the darkness the stem cell holocaust had dragged them into.

Alex stood there in something close to a daze, unable to immediately grasp that all of them had come out relatively unscathed in the end; incapable of understanding why they were so exuberant in their welcome. It was as if they had missed her, even worried about her and she still could not accept that they wanted her around; saw her as more than a simple coworker despite Nathan's advice to the contrary.

When all of them had greeted her, some pulling her into a quick hug or stealing a kiss on the cheek, she finally seemed to focus enough to speak.

"But why are you all here? You can't all have been waiting for me to wake up," she said in awe of the idea. Why would any of them, save Lucas, even entertain the idea? It was Tony who gave her, her answer, such as it was, in typical Piccolo fashion.

"Why not? We couldn't leave you to face the abomination of hospital food alone. Have you seen that stuff? It looks like the leftovers in the back of my fridge!"

All of them favored him with a look of disgust.

"What?" he asked, oblivious to the mental image he had just subjected them all to.

#**#

It was another twenty-four hours before Alex was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health. The doctors had insisted upon putting her through as many tests as they could think of to prove there was no longer anything wrong with her. Not one of them showed anything. It was if she had never been exposed to the stem cells at all. In that time she learned a great deal about what had transpired since her collapse onboard _seaQuest_.

While distribution of the cure had been an unqualified success, on a scale so large it made the history books, more than twenty thousand people died from exposure to the stem cells before it could save them. On a worldwide scale, twenty thousand wasn't even a drop in the bucket but to a single person who had fought to keep even one from dying of it, it cut deep. On _seaQuest_ alone they had lost thirty four crew members despite all they could do to save them. The losses struck home with Alex. She felt responsible somehow, at fault for the deaths caused by this entire tragedy. It was irrational but there it was.

A further thorn in her side, the scientific community had tacked a name on the whole thing as soon as they could come up with one. Scientifically it was now called paragenocytolysis, to everyone else it was Northman-Ward Disease or, worse still, Ward's Scourge. Alex had made her displeasure at having her name associated with the disease known, loudly. General McGath had taken perverse pleasure in denying her request that her name be removed from the moniker under the auspice that new diseases were commonly named for those who discovered them. Retribution for her power play on _seaQuest_ no doubt.

The news media had coined the name Ward's Scourge and had all but forgotten Alex's existence in favor of a pity angled take on Dr. Ward's tragic slide into darkness. In a way Alex was just as happy they had found someone else to focus on, though the media's sad sap story of how Dr. Ward had been trying to save humanity only to unleash a plague on it by accident, complete with pitiful anecdotes to bolster it, only firmly entrenched her dislike for what reporting had become. Sam had been right, they had found someone else to harass. Dr. Ward was being hounded by reporters in record numbers, all of them unable to obtain the interviews they so desperately wanted because Ward was in UEO custody. Leaving them to fill in as best they could and as often as not, make up, what they didn't know.

She had seen Ward being escorted in hand and leg cuffs from the hospital as she was being discharged. The cure had returned him to perfect health, just as it had all of his victims lucky enough to get the cure in time. The guards had let him stop and speak with her briefly much to her umbrage. He asked why she had given him the cure, since he was the one who tried and nearly accomplished the dissolution of humanity even if he had the best of intentions. He seemed disappointed she had saved his life, as if dying would have absolved him of his sins or at least kept him from having to face them. She had taken a long time to answer, finally telling him succinctly why she had done it.

"I'm told I should pity you for the tragedy that led you to this. I can't bring myself to do it, you knew what you had done and yet you didn't try to stop it. As a scientist it's my job to see to it that anyone effected by something as horrendous as the monster you created has the chance to survive it, even the one who made it."

She had turned on her heel and stalked away from him but he called after her, saying she could have let him die for what he had done. That it would have been fair play. She answered him one final time without turning. What she said either left him unable to formulate a comeback or wallowing in self-pity, she would never be sure which.

"I'm not like you Dr. Ward. It's not my place to decide who lives and who dies. Maybe, in my own way, I was helping justice along. Rather than die and be relieved of the guilt of your crimes, now you can live with it. For the rest of your life."

Alex sat on the sandy beach adjacent to the UEO base here, her feet buried in the white sand, thinking about all that had happened in the last few weeks, watching the unintended but ethereally beautiful effect the bioluminescent algae had on the ocean. It glowed the same soft blue as the algae, the light sparkling and rippling with every crest of a wave. The effect wouldn't last for more than a few days before the ocean's sea life gorged themselves on the banquet the algae provided but until then it was a radiant testimony to the enduring power of the human spirit, the proverbial rainbow after the flood. No matter how horrible an event humanity faced, somehow, somewhere a tiny spark of joy and hope would be found, however dim that light might be.

Behind her, the _seaQuest_ crew and anyone who had the notion to join them were reveling in that small joy. Enjoying the party UEO had deemed their due after the part they had played in saving the world from destruction – again. It was rather daunting when you thought about how many times in the past it had been nothing but _seaQuest_ between the world and total destruction. Alex wondered if the UEO really understood how valuable the crew behind her really was, even if you couldn't tell by their current antics.

Darwin was busy swimming intricate patterns in the water, diving in and out of the surf, throwing up artful sprays of glowing water drops much to the amusement of onlookers and his obvious delight. The display made all the more vivid in the darkness. The sun had set to the sound of thunderous applause hours ago and now the sea shone brightly against the pale sand.

Dagwood was dancing, very hesitantly, to the pounding music with Lonnie while she encouraged him to follow her lead. Her lead looked something like the funky chicken from decades ago and they couldn't have looked like they were having more fun. Miguel, Tim, Brody and, of all people, Commander Ford were fighting over the microphone near the DJ table, belting out the words to the song as loudly and as badly as they could under the strings of lights strung across the party area. All of them had beers in hand and looked more like frat boys then naval officers, arms slung over each other's shoulders as they sang.

Tony had convinced Dr. Smith to join him in a dance on the hexagonal wooden dance floor hastily assembled earlier in the day. She had her arms draped around his neck doing the jive; her head leaned back in a joyful laugh. Tony's grin was so large Alex wondered if his face might crack. The shenanigans an uncharacteristic and much needed display of the relief they all felt to be alive and whole. The only two she didn't count among the crowd were Nathan and Lucas, both had disappeared off somewhere shortly after the party had begun without a word and Alex, feeling outside the whirlwind of revelry, had chosen to sit away from them and watch from afar.

Ever on the fringes, she just didn't feel like part of the group, an outsider intruding on their private joy. Brody had asked her to dance more than once and she had politely refused saying she didn't feel quite herself yet. He had cordially accepted her excuse with a kiss on the cheek before leaving her to her thoughts. Tim had even come over trying to draw her in, carrying a plate full of chocolate as a lure. She thanked him for the offer but said she needed the quiet. He had gone away reticent, casting her glances that said he didn't believe a word of it.

She was so lost in her thoughts, watching the others enjoy their new lease on life that she didn't notice someone come up beside her until they cleared their throat to get her attention. She craned her neck around to see who it was, to see Captain Bridger standing there in Bermuda shorts, bare feet and a short-sleeved button down, the picture of the Hawaiian weekender.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked smiling, the night breeze ruffling his usually tidy hair. She really would have rather been alone but how could she refuse? She owed him more than he would ever know and he was the Captain after all. With a reluctant sigh, she motioned for him to have a seat, smoothing down the skirt of her floral sundress against the breeze.

He plunked down with little grace, burying his feet in the sand much as she had and sitting casually. He could have folded himself down onto the ground with elegance if he had chosen to. But clumsiness had a disarming effect on the observer and even from a distance he had seen she was troubled. He came to her as a friend now not as an authority figure. She said nothing to him returning her gaze out to the water; he followed her line of vision sitting in silence in the cool air.

"Why are you out here instead of back there having fun?" he asked when he thought the quiet had gone on long enough. Alex traced patterns in the sand beside her, thinking of what to say.

"I needed to think," she explained. Nathan nodded his head knowingly.

"About?" he asked, knowing she needed to talk to someone. She opened up to him then without the reservation she once had. Trusting him to listen and understand.

"Twenty thousand people, so many dead from all this. I should have worked harder or faster or… I don't know I should have done more," she confessed.

"It could have been twenty million. It could have been all of us. You did everything you could. All of you did," he reasoned. He knew the guilt that came with facing down a crisis like this one. The feeling that despite all you had done it hadn't been enough.

"Then why doesn't it feel that way?" Alex responded sadly. Nathan placed a hand on her shoulder in an unconscious fatherly gesture.

"It's not about who you didn't save. It's about who you did. Sometimes you lose a few along the way but you've done more good than you can imagine. Alex, you and Lucas nearly single handedly saved the human race. How many people can say that?" he said. Alex shook her head and he waited for the denial of what they had done to come.

"No, it wasn't just me and Lucas. We were just the last left standing. It took all of us, every member of the crew, to pull it off. It never would have worked without them," she said. So she wasn't going to be self deprecating this time, refusing to acknowledge her own worth in all this. That gave him hope that she really was beginning to accept her place in the scheme of things, to embrace that she wasn't a liability to every person she crossed paths with.

"I can agree with that," he said squeezing her shoulder before he let go and garnering a wan smile from her in the process. Then he added, "The pain will fade in time. It will never go away but it will get easier."

"I hope so," Alex said tracing an outline of a dolphin in the sand. Nathan leaned over and added a name above it. 'Darwin'. She laughed softly at his impromptu addition. Again, they sat in quiet contemplation for a while before she spoke again. Now that she was willing to talk Nathan let her do so in her own time.

"What do you think will happen to Dr. Ward?" she asked her expression one of curiosity and melancholy fear. Nathan sighed, now there was something he could never give her a satisfactory answer to.

"He's been declared mentally incompetent. Most likely, he will be declared unfit to stand trial and will spend the rest of his life in a prison for the mentally insane. The doctors really don't think he understands the magnitude of what he did. He can't seem to get past the idea of what he was trying to accomplish to see what he caused instead," he said. Alex shook her head gently.

"I think he knows exactly what he did. I think he's too sickened by it to face it. I talked to him before they took him away. He seemed upset he lived through it. I think he would rather have died than face the consequences of what he's done," she said disgusted that he would probably never face real justice for his crimes.

"Maybe, but a prison for the mentally insane is not a pleasant place. He'll have a very long time to think about it and no way to escape it. The justice system doesn't always work the way we want it to but it does work. Most of the time," Nathan said, offering what little consolation he could. Alex sighed and dropped her chin to her drawn up knees. He was right. There was nothing more he or she could do about it. Now it was in the UEO's hands and if they deemed him unfit to stand trial whatever punishment they did see fit to give him would have to be enough.

"I still have to contact Sam's family," she said idly, a mournful frown turning her lips. Nathan looked at her apprehensively before he spoke.

"I already did," he confessed. Her head snapped up and she glared at him in anger.

"I told you I wanted to do it!" she snapped and Nathan held his hands up defensively.

"Hold on now. You've been through enough Alex, no one can do it all by themselves. Do you really think Sam would have wanted you to torture yourself? For that matter do you think she would have wanted you to sit out here all alone when there's a party going on?" he asked. Alex thought about what he said for a moment before she chuckled and smiled a wide genuine smile.

"She'd probably have been the first one to haul me kicking and screaming onto the dance floor," she admitted, remembering Sam's carefree nature.

"Then don't you think it would be a better tribute to her memory to do what she would have wanted instead of sitting here drowning yourself in guilt and grief?" he asked. She inclined her head in grudging agreement.

"Why did you do it?" she asked. Unsure why he had deliberately done what she had said she wished to. It still hadn't sunk in. Nathan sighed in a mildly bothered manner at her hardheaded refusal to accept what was right in front of her.

"Because I'm your friend. Alex, you've helped pick up the pieces for the entire world, let someone else pick up the pieces for you for a change. Remember what I said, it's their choice if they want to do it. I'd even go so far as to say the crew sees you as something of a family member," he said. She started to protest but he held up a finger to silence her. She closed her mouth in slight annoyance but she didn't exhibit the rabid repudiation she had before.

Nathan took something out of his pocket and quickly dropped it around her neck before she could ask what it was. "And there's the proof. The first piece of Alexandria Northman put back where it belongs," he said jovially as the object tinkled gently. Alex put her hand to her throat tilting her head so she could see what it was he had put around her neck. Cool metal met her fingers. Dog tags, engraved with her name, her station noted as 'Chief Biomedical Engineer", the UEO insignia, her UEO serial number and the designation of her assignment '_seaQuest DSV _4600 II'.

"Lucas told you I wanted to join the crew? How did you get these so fast?" she asked turning the tags around to catch the moonlight. A thrill went through her and somewhere it felt like a puzzle piece had fallen into place.

"He told me you were finally ready to. I've had those waiting for you since you left _seaQuest_ the first time," he said and waited for what that meant to sink in. She furrowed her brow at him in confusion.

"How did you know I would come back?" she asked. Nathan gave her a lopsided grin.

"You've been a part of this crew for longer than you realize. Did you really think everyone kept in touch with you because they were bored? Did you think the way they treat you is some charade of polite manners? This isn't just a crew Alex, it's a family. And if you weren't a part of it before you certainly are now," he said. Alex sniffled and Nathan thought for a moment what he had said upset her in some way. But the tears were accompanied by a fierce smile as another puzzle piece joined the first. Nathan reached over and wiped them away, admonishing her lightheartedly.

"None of that, the night's not over yet," he said. Alex looked bemused again completely at a loss. What was that supposed to mean?

"Dance with me Ms. Northman," added another voice behind them as a slow number began to play. Both of them looked up to find Commander Ford standing there his hand out stretched in as courtly a manner as he could muster.

"Ah, here's piece number two. Right on time," Nathan observed only making Alex even more befuddled. What was he talking about?

"I don't dance very well Commander. I don't think I'd be a very good choice," Alex insisted. Jonathan smiled impishly.

"It wasn't a request crewman," he said leaning over to take her hand and pull her to her feet. She caught brief sight of the crowd again; Lucas was still nowhere to be found.

"I beg your pardon?" Alex babbled. He couldn't force her to dance with him! She wasn't angry, she was completely bewildered by the sudden change in behavior. She looked to Captain Bridger for some sort of assistance and was met by as impish a grin from him as she was from the Commander.

"I'm afraid you'll have to Alex, Captain's _and_ Commander's orders. You are here by commanded to go out there and have fun. Your first order of business is to dance, so get to it," Nathan piped with as close to an authoritative voice as he could. He failed miserably, he was enjoying teasing Alex too much to be convincing.

"But!" Alex protested. Jonathan linked his arm over hers and led her away, Nathan calling back to them as she was pulled along.

"Welcome to the family Alex!" he called, his grin bigger than ever.

"I'm being shanghaied!" Alex complained good-naturedly. Commander Ford swung her into position for a waltz and pulled her across the dance floor. Alex swept along with him, letting him lead her clumsy feet deftly.

"I think you'd be right. Welcome to _seaQuest_," he joked turning her gracefully across the floor. The song changed again, another slow number mid way through the first.

"Piece number three," he said to Alex's irritation and twirled her out with precise precision, letting go of her hand just as she reached the end of his arm. She came to a stop with someone at her feet.

Her ability to breathe came to a screeching halt. The person at her feet was Lucas, dressed in a burgundy blazer, a black shirt beneath it over dusky cords; his usually haphazard hair neatly gelled into place, on one knee, with a tiny black velvet box in his hand.

The same little square he'd kept stashed in his pocket, a closely guarded secret he had been agonizing over for weeks before any of this had even begun. That he had tried to use more than once and failed. This time he would not be thwarted. It was now or never. Suddenly he was incredibly nervous. What if she said no? He swallowed hard and tried not to have his nerve fail looking at the completely astonished look on Alex's face.

Alex looked around at the crowd. They had all moved back to the edge of the dance floor, joined by Captain Bridger, leaving her and Lucas in the middle, alone, the center of attention. All of them waiting with bated breath. She felt her scalp prickle with excitement, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Lucas fumbled the box open and took a deep breath before speaking. He had rehearsed this so many times today he should have been able to repeat it in his sleep but he found himself stumbling over them in spite of all the practice. He had all these poetic words he wanted to say and found that every one of them had fled. He couldn't remember any of them. He did the only thing he could he improvised.

"Alex, I tried to ask you this twice before and couldn't. I love you. Will you marry me?" he said, managing to ask without stuttering to his amazement.

Alex's eyes had gone as round as silver dollars, frozen in place. She just stood there in complete surprise. Lucas came very close to panicking. She wasn't answering. She was going to say no! Finally words came out, just not the ones he was expecting either way.

"You _all_ planned this?" she squeaked, what they had been setting her up for dawning on her. There were quiet snickers from all around.

"We're a highly trained military and scientific team. Of course we did!" Brody called.

"Are you going to answer him or what doll? He's down there shaking like a dry limb in a stiff breeze," Tony put in to the laughter of everyone.

"I, well, I," Alex stuttered her eyes returning to Lucas, still knelling at her feet. He was indeed shaking in apprehension. Alex pulled in a deep breath to steady herself and answered.

"Yes."

Lucas nearly fainted with relief barely keeping it together enough to slip the ring on her finger. A single, channel set diamond in a white gold band. It slid onto her hand with ease, settling at the base of her finger as if it had always been there. Then he was on his feet and did the only thing he thought you were supposed to if the girl said yes. He slipped both hands into her hair and looked deeply into her eyes, an elated smile on his lips before he pulled her into the most passionate kiss he'd ever had. She returned the favor, her arms going around his neck and in a fit of whimsy he slipped his arms down around her waist and spun her in a circle, her feet completely off the floor, still locked in a kiss.

The whole crew cheered so loud they both thought people in New Cape Quest could have heard it, applauding in case it wasn't loud enough. Even Darwin was flipping out of the water with excited clicks. When they broke apart, breathless and unable to take their eyes off their affianced, the whistles and congratulations died off. Wendy stepped forward with a camera and began herding everyone into place.

"Photo op!" declared Miguel posing. Lucas and Alex were ensconced right in the middle, Lucas just behind Alex with his arms around her midsection, both smiling so brightly they out shone the brilliance of the sea behind them. Darwin swam back and forth within frame shot waiting to jump at just the right moment. There was pushing and jostling as everyone got into place. Once they were all settled Wendy handed the camera off to the DJ and got into position under Nathan's arm.

"Hey, does this mean I get my own room?" asked Tony eagerly. Everyone groaned at him. Dagwood out did him. Just as the DJ yelled "Smile!" He asked, "Does this mean Lucas and Alex will have little Lucases and Alexs?"

Lucas and Alex both look mortified and turned red, everyone else died laughing just as Darwin sprung from the water and the camera clicked. It would definitely be a picture to remember.

"Welcome home Alex," Lucas laughed.

"Home," Alex whispered with longing, leaning back into his arms.

"Piece number four," he whispered into her ear and she laughed with him, a carefree sound that carried out onto the waves, freer than she had been in years.

She knew without a doubt that she was indeed home. This had been what she was missing. Not some lost piece of herself but the pieces she had yet to find. A home, a family, a place she belonged. Captain Bridger had been right. Sometimes it took someone else to put the pieces back for you.

Catastrophe had come and gone. Overcome with the aid of a priceless crew and a dose of determination not even death could rattle. All that was left to do was to pick up the pieces, one at a time… together.


End file.
